Johannesburg: Tumelo Georgi, a political science graduate dressed in a yellow garbageman outfit, joined a small demonstration outside the headquarters of a Johannesburg waste management firm.
After working on a short-term contract for several months, he has just lost the recruitment round and is now unemployed among millions of South Africans.
“It’s very sad,” said the 39-year-old. “That’s why we have criminals because people read them and find them.”
South Africa’s unemployment rate – one of the highest in the world – is a hot political issue ahead of next week’s general election.
“Jobs in every home,” reads the slogan of Bosa’s new liberal party. “News and jobs,” cried the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters in one ad.
At 32.9 percent, the unemployment rate is near a record high. Among seniors, it’s 45.5 percent higher.
Undeterred, many voters plan to oust the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and on May 29 the party is expected to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994.
It may be forced to find coalition partners to stay in power.
“The ANC has failed,” said Fikile Ndaba, a 49-year-old mother of three from Diepkloof in the historic Soweto district.
For years he tried to find work.
He said that if he had voted for the ANC in the previous election, he did not know whether to vote now.
“I left my CV everywhere, in cafes, shops, crèches. No one called.”
Economists say the problem is deep-seated and not a quick fix.
According to Dieter von Fintel of Stellenbosch University, many blacks received additional education during apartheid and were not equipped to find work after work.
In recent decades, economic growth has been too slow to absorb the growing labor supply.
In 2008, the country’s population was just under 50 million, and unemployment was 20 percent. There are currently 62 million people in South Africa.
GDP is expected to grow by 0.6 percent in 2023 due to concerns about power outages, infrastructure damage and corruption.
knowledge gap remains.
There are good but expensive private schools in South Africa. A misunderstood and inferior society is often served.
Eight out of 10 nine- or 10-year-old schoolchildren struggle to understand what they read, according to research published last year.
According to von Fintel, students are often unable to get the university degrees they are looking for such as engineering and finance.
Social mobility and interaction between different gender groups has increased in the past 30 years.
According to the World Bank, South Africa remains the most unequal society in the world, and many lack connections to help them find work.
“This is a spiral of inequality,” said Imraan Walodia, a professor of economics at the University of the Witwatersrand.
“If you’re born in a rural family, you’re going to go to an inadequate school, and if you go to college, you’re probably not going to a good university. to get a job,” he said.
Government efforts to tackle the crisis have yielded limited results.
According to Von Fintel, the policy of black economic empowerment, which encourages firms to increase black ownership, employment and procurement, has particularly benefited minority groups.
The lack of a future fueled anti-foreigner sentiment.
Despite its challenges, Africa’s most developed country remains a magnet for migrants from around the world.
Joseph Mhlaba, a 58-year-old unemployed Soweto resident who supports Dudula’s xenophobic vigilante group, said: “There is work to be done, we have to get the foreigners out there.”
The UN 2022 report described high unemployment as a “ticking time bomb”.
Today, more than 25 million South Africans rely on social grants to get by.
Ofentse, a 26-year-old unemployed resident of Soweto who prefers to give his first name, said he earns 500 rand ($27) a month – which “comforts” him and he needs to find work.
“This government is doing the right thing in terms of taxing high income earners and transferring that income to the poor,” Valodia said.
But there are concerns about its ability to sustain it amid low growth and high debt.
“What we need is a period of sustained growth that will pass the benefits of growth to the marginalized. This has not happened in the past.”
