Today’s recent unemployment numbers by released by StatsSA continue to demonstrate that desperate leadership is required to save the almost 12 million South Africans without jobs, and without the hope of finding a job.
Sadly, 1.3 million of those unemployed are in the City of Johannesburg, the city with the most significant rise in unemployment in Gauteng. The recent unemployment figures represent a 22% year-on-year rise in unemployment within the City and a 9% change in unemployment this time last year.
Sadly, youth unemployment has reached 74.8% across the nation.
These figures represent the ANC government’s failure to address the drivers of unemployment in South Africa:
- Long-term policy uncertainty and double-speak generating declining levels of business confidence.
- Further breakdown of the rule of law, including through the failure to take action against corrupt officials and politicians.
- Rigid Labour Laws that appease the tripartite alliance partners at the expense of the millions of unemployed South Africans.
- Ongoing decline in the functioning of the civil service, arising from cadre deployment.
- Ongoing abuse of public procurement processes, in the name of broad-based empowerment, to continue the enrichment of the politically connected elite.
Worst still, the recent acts of violent looting and insurrection, resulting in the destruction of property and countless businesses is set to exacerbate the future economic outlook of our country.
ActionSA has made it clear that we believe in the people of our country and that, together, we can get South Africa working. The people of South Africa bear the suffering of the failures of our government, and this is why ActionSA is clear that the first step to getting South Africa working, must be the unseating of the ANC.
Addressing the unemployment crisis in South Africa is the most important intervention once the ANC has been removed from government. Every South African who gains meaningful employment, is a household that is able to look after itself, allowing our government to do more for fewer households in need.
The unseating of the ANC must not only happen at a national government level in 2024, but now, at a local government level as well. The decline of jobs in Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub, is a clear indication that the ANC administration is failing our residents across the board.
To get Johannesburg’s economy back on track, ActionSA would prioritise:
- Revive the stalled Inner-City Revitalisation mega project by working with the private sector and civil society to create shared value that incentivises investment, creates job opportunities, and provides inclusive, affordable housing for residents;
- Once again declaring corruption public enemy number 1 and ensure public money is used to create a conducive environment for job creation;
- Ensuring that the rule of law is enforced so residents can feel safe, and businesses can thrive;
- Streamlining the City’s bloated structure to ensure that we can improve service delivery by ensuring the City’s organisational structure is responsive to the needs of residents and creates the institutional framework necessary for economic growth; and
- Removing barriers to job-creation by nurturing the potential of the township economy and leading the modernisation towards a more competitive city-economy.
By doing this, we can get Johannesburg working again. If Johannesburg works, South Africa works.
To rebuild our national economy, we must commit to:
- Clear and unambiguous economic policy that is implemented without contradiction and generates business confidence and foreign direct investment.
- Opposing the tenets of radical economic transformation, with a particular emphasis on land expropriation without compensation and the independence of the South African Reserve Bank.
- Ending the era where trade unions have a veto right over economic policy. This includes fundamental reform to Labour Laws that make it easier to hire unemployed South Africans.
- Massive investment in education, including the overhaul of the syllabus, with a focus on skills development and vocational training.
- Identification of all state-owned properties and land, throughout the country, and the release of properties and land to the private sector based on economic returns. This includes inner city rejuvenation within all major metros.
- The handing over of abandoned industrial parks and factories to manufacturers based on their proposals to generate economic activity and job creation.
- Fundamental reform of the criminal justice system to ensure that the SAPS, NPA and court system operates effectively and builds confidence in the adherence to the rule of law.
- Securing our borders so that every visitor to our country is here legally – ensuring the rule of law, proper allocation of our limited resources and fair competition to jobs for all those who call South Africa home. South Africa cannot be used by failing governments to outsource their challenges to us.
ActionSA is clear that the reforms required will not be implemented under the ANC because it has become paralysed by factionalism and weak leadership. This is why the unseating of the ANC is critical because the greatest challenges in our country can only be addressed when the ANC is consigned to the opposition benches in our country.
The 2021 local government elections will be the first opportunity to begin the process of unseating the ANC. ActionSA is committed to do this in major metros in South Africa and to put in place key measures to drive economic growth within the local government context.
