A year into the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), South Africa’s economy is stagnating, unemployment is deepening, and the government has no plan to change course.
Today’s GDP figures confirm that the economy is barely breathing—growing by just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2025, following a weak 0.4% in the previous quarter. This is a far cry from the 3–4% growth needed to create jobs and restore dignity to the 8.23 million unemployed South Africans.
The GNU claims to pursue “rapid, inclusive and sustainable” growth, yet delivers the exact opposite. This administration is paralysed, distracted by internal horse-trading and unable to confront the structural collapse happening in key sectors of the economy.
Mining contracted by 4.1% this quarter alone, while manufacturing declined by 2.0%. Since 2010, mining output has shrunk by 8%, and manufacturing has grown by just 1% in total—amounting to a pitiful 0.07% per year. This collapse in productive capacity reflects years of policy incoherence, failing infrastructure, unreliable energy, and unfair competition from low-cost imports.
In a country at South Africa’s level of development, a dynamic industrial sector should be driving growth, innovation and mass employment. Instead, manufacturers are being ground down by inefficiency and neglect. The government has failed to create the enabling environment needed to support production, investment, and job creation. With load shedding set to return in the coming weeks, this misery will only deepen, crippling what little momentum remains in key industries and further undermining any prospect of recovery.
ActionSA calls for a complete overhaul of industrial policy to prioritise key sectors like steel, fix freight and electricity infrastructure, create a truly business-friendly regulatory environment, and establish a high-level public-private Industrial Council to support domestic manufacturing and reduce import dependence.
Without urgent reform, 5,000 more South Africans will lose their jobs today—another 5,000 tomorrow, and every working day that follows. The GNU is not stabilising South Africa; it is managing the country’s economic decline while millions lose hope.
Stalled GDP and Mass Job Losses Expose GNU as Directionless and Out of Ideas
A year into the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), South Africa’s economy is stagnating, unemployment is deepening, and the government has no plan to change course.
Today’s GDP figures confirm that the economy is barely breathing—growing by just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2025, following a weak 0.4% in the previous quarter. This is a far cry from the 3–4% growth needed to create jobs and restore dignity to the 8.23 million unemployed South Africans.
The GNU claims to pursue “rapid, inclusive and sustainable” growth, yet delivers the exact opposite. This administration is paralysed, distracted by internal horse-trading and unable to confront the structural collapse happening in key sectors of the economy.
Mining contracted by 4.1% this quarter alone, while manufacturing declined by 2.0%. Since 2010, mining output has shrunk by 8%, and manufacturing has grown by just 1% in total—amounting to a pitiful 0.07% per year. This collapse in productive capacity reflects years of policy incoherence, failing infrastructure, unreliable energy, and unfair competition from low-cost imports.
In a country at South Africa’s level of development, a dynamic industrial sector should be driving growth, innovation and mass employment. Instead, manufacturers are being ground down by inefficiency and neglect. The government has failed to create the enabling environment needed to support production, investment, and job creation. With load shedding set to return in the coming weeks, this misery will only deepen, crippling what little momentum remains in key industries and further undermining any prospect of recovery.
ActionSA calls for a complete overhaul of industrial policy to prioritise key sectors like steel, fix freight and electricity infrastructure, create a truly business-friendly regulatory environment, and establish a high-level public-private Industrial Council to support domestic manufacturing and reduce import dependence.
Without urgent reform, 5,000 more South Africans will lose their jobs today—another 5,000 tomorrow, and every working day that follows. The GNU is not stabilising South Africa; it is managing the country’s economic decline while millions lose hope.