Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Mmapaseka Steve Letsike has called for the social and solidarity economy (SSE) to move beyond the margins of South Africa's economy and become a key vehicle for creating jobs, expanding ownership and delivering more inclusive economic growth.
Delivering the keynote address at the Catalyst Now South Africa Social and Solidarity Economy Symposium on Thursday, Letsike said South Africa needed to build economic institutions that translated the constitutional values of dignity, equality, freedom and democratic participation into people's everyday lives.
The symposium, held virtually under the theme: "Building Inclusive Economies Through the Social and Solidarity Economy", brought together representatives from government, organised labour, business, academia, civil society, social enterprises, cooperatives and community organisations.
Letsike linked the development of an inclusive economy to South Africa's history of colonialism and apartheid, arguing that dispossession, extraction, migrant labour and exclusion from productive assets had left a legacy that continued to shape economic inequality.
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She said the country's constitutional democracy had made important advances, including dismantling discriminatory laws, expanding social protection and improving access to public services, but stressed that the constitutional project remained unfinished.
"The persistence of unemployment, poverty, inequality and spatial exclusion does not diminish the Constitution. It makes the urgency of its implementation even clearer," she said.
According to Letsike, the SSE can provide part of the institutional machinery needed to turn constitutional rights into economic realities.
She described cooperatives, mutual organisations, associations, community enterprises and qualifying social-purpose businesses as organisations that undertake real economic activity while placing collective benefit, social purpose and democratic participation ahead of unrestricted profit.
However, she cautioned that SSE should not become another name for poverty or informal economic activity.
"It cannot become cheap outsourcing of public responsibilities, nor can social purpose excuse poor governance or exploitation," she said.
The Deputy Minister said the need for a stronger SSE sector was particularly urgent given the country's employment challenges.
She cited economic growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2026, but said that growth had not translated into inclusion at the scale required.
In the second quarter, 8.5 million South Africans were officially unemployed, with the unemployment rate at 33.6%. Youth unemployment had risen to 47.4%, while the unemployment rate for women stood at 37.5%, more than seven percentage points higher than that of men.
Letsike said the country could not expect young people to celebrate political freedom while almost half of those seeking work could not find employment.
She called for stronger pathways linking education and skills to employment, enterprise development, ownership and economic dignity.
Government programmes such as the Presidential Employment Stimulus and Social Employment Fund, she said, had created important entry points into the world of work. The Presidential Employment Stimulus had generated more than 2.5 million work and livelihood opportunities, mainly for young people and women.
The next challenge was to ensure that temporary opportunities became bridges to accredited skills, permanent employment, cooperative ownership, community enterprises and sustainable contracts.
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Letsike highlighted the so-called "missing middle" as a major obstacle facing community enterprises and cooperatives.
While traditionally understood as the gap between micro-grants and commercial lending, Letsike said the problem was broader and included difficulties accessing appropriate finance, markets, contracts and institutional support.
She pointed to women-led community enterprises that may have demand and experience but lack collateral, audited financial statements or the capacity to compete for large tenders.
A recent assessment had identified 117 public MSME-financing mechanisms administered by 26 institutions, she said, arguing that the challenge was now to simplify access, diversify financial instruments and connect finance with capability and markets.
