Catastrophic unemployment statistics a manmade disaster by ruling party - Requires urgent change to avoid catastrophe

20 February 2024

The disastrous fourth quarter unemployment statistics - which show that 11.6 million South Africans are now unemployed according to the expanded definition - indicate that unless South Africans change their national government in the upcoming elections, the country will further go down a path of unemployment and economic decline. Regardless of what Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana therefore presents in his budget speech on Wednesday, unless drastic action is taken, South Africa will never be able to get out of its low economic growth environment.

Despite repeated promises by the ruling government - including most recently by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State Of The Nation Address - that South Africa is turning the tide against job losses, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that the current policy approach is simply not working. The upcoming elections therefore present an opportunity to reset South Africa’s economic approach by removing the ruling party to create millions of new jobs to improve our people’s lives.

South Africa’s current unemployment and fiscal crisis is a manmade disaster by the ruling party after years of mismanagement and corruption, but ActionSA has a plan to address the country’s current dilemma by unlocking private investment and job creation. Our economic prosperity policy, adopted by 600 delegates during ActionSA’s inaugural policy conference in September, stipulates that when we enter government, we will grow the economy and create jobs by:

Reforming the labour market to make it easier for businesses to hire new employees.

Provide sectoral support for sectors that have long-term growth and create jobs.

Improve and fix economic infrastructure such as water systems, electricity, roads, and communication networks.

Reclaim hijacked buildings and make them available to the private sector for mixed-use development.

Replacing failed BEE with Inclusive Economic Empowerment (IEE) that will empower all previously disadvantaged, not just a select few.

As someone who has a long career in business, I know that most South Africans yearn for a job and access to other economic opportunities, but are limited by a failing government. The government have repeatedly celebrated forcing people to become dependent on state subsidies when it has failed to give South Africans the dignity that a job offers. 

ActionSA believes that the only way to bring true economic freedom to the South African people is to give them a job so they are empowered to make decisions over their own lives. We know a country is possible where we create millions of new jobs, but for that to happen we need to take action to remove the ruling party from government and vote for ActionSA.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 20 February 2024