Youth demand emergency action

With unemployment at 31.9%, young South Africans are tired of plans and promises — they want bold, immediate job creation

- NYANISO QWESHA

AS PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to deliver the ANC’s 114th January 8 Statement at Moruleng Stadium, millions of South Africans will listen with scepticism rather than hope.

They have heard the plans before. They have heard the promises. Yet unemployment remains entrenched at 31.9% and is projected to worsen.

For parents watching qualified children sit idle at home. For young people whose confidence and dignity are eroded by daily rejection. For households trapped permanently in survival mode. Enough really is enough.

This January 8 Statement must confront unemployment as the national emergency it is, not as a long-term policy challenge to be managed incrementally. South Africa does not need another framework. It needs bold, immediate action.

We must be honest about what 31.9% unemployment means. It means nearly one in three South Africans who want to work cannot find a job. It means one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. It means that the 855 000 work opportunities created in 2025, celebrated in the ANC’s year-end message, barely register against the devastation unfolding daily in our communities.

The ANC’s recently announced 10 Point Economic Action Plan contains sensible elements. Stabilising electricity. Fixing ports and logistics. Supporting small businesses. These interventions matter. But necessity is not sufficiency.

The fundamental flaw is the assumption that if supply-side constraints are resolved, jobs will automatically follow. Infrastructure alone does not guarantee employment. It never has. As the Institute for Economic Justice has argued, the plan is internally incoherent.

Once again, we are doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Imagine if the President stood before South Africans and spoke with honesty and courage.