Statistics SA's latest unemployment report is a jarring national wake-up call. The stats for the second quarter of 2024 paint yet another painful picture with job losses across all formal sectors pushing expanded unemployment to 42.6% with a 0.7% rise. This marks the third consecutive quarter with job shedding.
We dare not continue to normalise an economy where 4 out of 10 South Africans and 6 out of 10 young people cannot find work. This is our greatest national crisis and it is time government and the private sector respond to it with the same decisiveness as we did for COVID-19. The dangers of meandering along this path are tantamount to playing Russian Roulette with a live grenade.
As government prepares to table the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) at Parliament in October, it is critical Cabinet treat this ticking time bomb with the urgency it deserves. We need an MTBPS that will boldly declare war on unemployment and kickstart a painfully weak economy by:
Continuing to support Eskom as it turns the corner on loadshedding and positions South Africa once again to provide the economy and the region with the electricity needed for growth.
Accelerating interventions at Transnet and Metro Rail to ensure freight and passenger rail are secured and our ports are modernised, providing commuters and goods reliable and affordable transport.
Expediting the capacitation programmes for 140 struggling municipalities. This must be accompanied by urgent interventions to stabilise and rebuild local government and deliver municipal services.
The fixing of local government, Eskom and Transnet, which are key to ensuring the massive R943 billion infrastructure allocations are spent.
Ramping up financing for industrial and export programmes.
Implementing the new mining rights application system to unlock badly needed investments in the mining sector and halt the flood of retrenchments.
Promulgating the Public Procurement Act and ensuring supply chain management across the state is capacitated to implement it.
Filling critical vacancies e.g. Home Affairs, Health, Schools, the SAPS, NPA and Courts to ensure workers and the economy have access to efficient public services.
Overhauling and modernising embattled state entities, e.g. NSFAS, the UIF and Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases Fund, and the CCMA.
Placing the Road Accident Fund under administration and retabling the RAF and RABS Bills at Parliament to set it on a sustainable path and review the third of the fuel price going towards taxes.
Drastically increasing and extending the Presidential Employment Stimulus to accommodate at least 2 million simultaneous participants to help young people enter the labour market.
Raising the SRD Grant to the Food Poverty Line and linking its participants to skills and employment opportunities.
Providing SARS the resources it requires to raise tax and customs compliance to 70% by 2025 and thus providing the state an additional R120 billion revenue whilst protecting local jobs and industries.
Commencing negotiations on the next set of Two Pot Pension Reforms to provide further relief to highly indebted workers whilst boosting savings.
Whilst government must undertake the above interventions, the private sector which has been reaping a Government of National Unity JSE boom, needs to come to the party by:
Declaring a moratorium on retrenchments and ramping up internship and artisanship programmes aimed at young people.
Making credit more accessible and affordable for SMMEs and industrial financing.
Reducing the obscene wage gap between CEOs and the lowest paid workers and paying workers a living wage so they can afford the goods the economy produces.
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More work needs to be done jointly by government, business, labour and society to ensure the industrial master plans take off, an aggressive buy local campaign is revived across the economy and our skills training regime is overhauled to ensure the skills provided are those required for the economy of today and tomorrow.
The Reserve Bank too, needs to give some relief to a choking economy, by reducing the excessively high repo rate during its September and November reviews.
The leadership of government and the private sector need to appreciate the crises facing workers and their families and communities. We cannot afford to continue on a business as usual path and somehow expect different results. We are rapidly running out of political runway to turn things around and generate hope in society. Politicians would do well to remember there are local elections in less than two years.
COSATU will be seeking an urgent meeting with the executive to discuss our proposed interventions.
