The chickens have come home to roost. Fifteen years of poor leadership and boneheaded economic policies have brought South Africa to a jobs crisis.
The only question now is whether our leaders have the humility and wisdom to make swift changes and genuinely and honestly chart a new path. Sadly, a cursory reading of economic and political events since 2009 shows that no such thing will happen.
If there was ever any doubt about just how terrible the ANC has been for job creation, last week brought it all home. Over the course of just 15 years or so, the ANC has gone from being a promising creator of employment to an active and gleeful destroyer of it.
No-one can ignore the numbers: Ford is cutting 474 workers; Glencore is letting 2,400 people go; ArcelorMittal South Africa, in trouble for years, is slashing another 3,500 jobs; and Goodyear showed 900 people the door when it closed a factory in Kariega in August.
Minister of employment & labour Nomakhosazana Meth says she is “gravely concerned” at the job losses. You don’t say.
As I read these numbers last week I remembered how, in 2009, our then spanking new president, Jacob Zuma, tried to strip the minister of finance of his powers by creating a new ministry of economic development headed by trade unionist Ebrahim Patel. It was the beginning of the end.
Two years later, in April 2011, Patel told the National Assembly of a new plan for the nation’s economy: “To achieve its aim of generating 5-million new jobs, the New Growth Path prioritises six jobs drivers: infrastructure development; the agricultural value chain; mining and metals fabrication; manufacturing expansion; the green economy; and key services of tourism, creative industries and business services.”
Five-million jobs! Was it a pipe dream? In the right hands, it would not have been.
Former president Thabo Mbeki was attacked on social media at the weekend for pointing out a plain fact: the number of employed people grew from 8.9-million in 1994 to 14.2-million in 2008, a spectacular 5.3-million increase in the ranks of people receiving a wages envelope every month. Unemployment was at 32% when Mbeki came to office in 1999. It had dropped to just above 20% by the time he was unceremoniously sacked in 2008.
What is to be done? The ANC needs to realise that the old ways of doing things will not work. The world has changed
The Mbeki administration showed that it can be done. The Zuma and Ramaphosa administrations have failed dismally to emulate this example. Unemployment hovers around 33% now and will worsen if the trend of job cuts continues. The loss of the 2,425 direct jobs at Glencore, for example, could lead to more than 17,000 indirect jobs being affected, according to trade unions.
What is to be done? The ANC needs to realise that the old ways of doing things will not work. The world has changed. Soon US President Donald Trump will celebrate the anniversary of his second electoral victory. South Africa saw him coming, watched him prepare for the White House, and looked on as he implemented his agenda.
Why is South African policy towards the US still so incoherent? The trade impasse with the US needs to be resolved quickly or the uncertainty will further fuel investor jitters, deindustrialisation and job cuts.
At home, the government needs to treat business as an ally rather than an enemy. Why is the government still fighting business on National Health Insurance? The government needs to proactively pursue job-creating, business-friendly policies that will unlock the huge potential that is hog-tied by red tape.
It depresses me just how many government leaders still believe business is the enemy. Unless they abandon this attitude, we will not build the infrastructure we need and attract the investment we desperately require.
In the run-up to the 1994, 1999 and 2004 elections the ANC had several slogans, the key one being simple and direct. Emblazoned on billboards across the country, it said: “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!”
The ANC has destroyed jobs. The long way back will be difficult, but it can be done.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.