Jobs crisis requires urgent, principled action

South Africa is haemorrhaging jobs at a rate that the economy can no longer bear. The loss of 74 000 formal sector jobs in the first quarter of 2025 - and 95 000 year-on-year - marks not just an economic contraction, but the deepening of a social crisis that threatens national stability.

This scale of unemployment is not merely unsustainable; it is potentially explosive.

Internally, the causes are well documented: dismal economic growth of just 0.6% last year, policy uncertainty, declining productivity, restrictive labour regulations, and a skills mismatch that leaves workers ill-equipped for a changing economy. Investment remains low, while de-industrialisation continues apace. Manufacturing, once a driver of inclusive growth, is in retreat. The education and training system has failed to adapt to market needs, and the economy is increasingly constrained by rigid employment policies.

Externally, the picture is just as bleak. Growing geopolitical tensions now threaten to worsen the crisis. The United States Congress is enacting punitive trade measures against South Africa for its principled stances on matters such as Palestinian rights and the demand for historical restitution.

Should these materialise, they will place further strain on already fragile trade and investment flows. However, abandoning our moral commitments must not be the price of economic survival.

The country must instead pursue solutions rooted in sovereignty and long-term resilience. These include streamlining business regulations, expanding support for small and medium enterprises, overhauling the technical education system, incentivising local manufacturing, and unlocking green industrialisation as a jobs driver.

Government must restore investor confidence through stable, clear policy direction and evidence-based economic planning.

Unemployment is no longer a statistic; it is a humanitarian emergency. Without decisive, ethical action, South Africa risks not only economic collapse but widespread social unrest. The crisis is urgent - but it is not insurmountable.

If the ANC needed a cause to demonstrate it deserves to lead the country, this is it.

The Independent on Saturday