President Cyril Ramaphosa told us this week that his investment drive, launched in 2018, has garnered R1.5-trillion in pledges and has already seen “a total of R634bn … invested into factories, mines, data centres, power plants and other infrastructure, and has been creating jobs”.
He wrote this in his weekly newsletter just six days after Stats SA said the unemployment rate rose to 32.7% in Q1 2026, up from 31.4% in Q4 2025. The number of unemployed people increased 301,000 to 8.137-million. But it is youth unemployment that will break your heart: joblessness for those aged 15-24 stands at a staggering 60.9%, while the 25-34 group sits at 40.6%.
Ramaphosa then pointed to one of the key failures of our era: there is just no investment in the economy. Gross fixed capital formation stands at 14% of GDP, while the National Development Plan had called for it to reach 30% by 2030. In the glory days of the Thabo Mbeki economy in 2008, it reached 21%.
This is a disaster. This is a time when everyone in our society — from politicians to business leaders — should be dumping “business as usual” and coming up with innovative new solutions. Are we?
Ramaphosa says he and his team are working on it. Business largely believes him. But what if he goes? The country needs a leader who recognises South Africa’s challenges and can drive a cabinet whose sole obsession would be to force down unemployment and drive up investment.
So, if or when Ramaphosa’s problems catch up with him, why not consider refining our GNU into not just a marriage of convenience, but a cabinet of the capable? By this I mean that the two biggest parties should look outside their leadership pools and instead consider the entire 10-party GNU for an individual best suited to lead a clearly briefed and mandated cabinet to deliver on our economic goals.
It would not be the first time a minority leader has taken over a leading position in South Africa, though the example I’m about to use here is one that was a cynical power play and not at all what I have in mind.
In 2023, the brittle DA-led coalition in the City of Joburg was in trouble. Small parties were abusing their kingmaker positions to destabilise continuing work by threatening to collapse coalition arrangements if decisions did not go their way. Inevitably, the coalition collapsed, and an ANC- and EFF-led coalition rose to power.
Gross fixed capital formation stands at 14% of GDP, while the National Development Plan had called for it to reach 30% by 2030
These two parties were, however, in disagreement with each other on most issues except one: getting rid of the DA. So they agreed that the Al Jama-ah party, with only three out of 270 seats in the council, should take the mayoral chain. Thapelo Amad became mayor in January 2023 as a “compromise candidate”. He was a disaster and resigned three months later. Kabelo Gwamanda, from the same party, was installed as mayor; he was an even bigger disaster and had to be jettisoned too.
Is there a way for the ANC and the DA to agree to a similar arrangement, but with an emphasis on picking a minority leader who is talented, serious, focused and motivated to lead a cabinet built on transforming this economy into a powerhouse?
Let’s be honest here. Few serious people believe Deputy President Paul Mashatile can cut it as president. Further, it’s very unlikely the DA will work with him. And there is zero chance that the ANC will allow the DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis to lead the GNU.
If the two main partners were to look outside their own leaders and their own partisan positions, it would be possible for them to realise that perhaps they could agree on an economic programme, and get a suitable driver for it.
I have one possible candidate for them. Rise Mzansi’s Songezo Zibi has been a phenomenal MP these past two years. He has shown remarkable insight and a good grasp of the issues bedevilling the country. He is young, and economically aligned with the ANC and the DA. He is practical and principled, and has focus and drive.
In the case of a leadership gridlock such as the one looming in the GNU and South Africa, coalition leaders would do well to think of new ways of doing things. But, of course, they won’t.
Our leaders rarely think out of the box, and that’s why we are stuck with poor investment and terrible employment figures.
