The criticism, this time around, is coming from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the province as their members demonstrated in Kimberley, Kuruman and Upington as a part of the national strike by them, and the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) on Wednesday. 

The members of the respective unions are demonstrating against the country’s high unemployment rate, rising lay-offs and the government’s delay in honouring the three-year wage increase agreement which was meant to come into effect in March 2020 as the country’s economy grinded to a halt. Deputy Provincial Chairperson of Cosatu in the Northern Cape, Jacques Cupido, commends the provincial government under the leadership of Premier Zamani Saul for recognising there is an urgent problem in the province but stresses this isn’t enough.

Cupido says Saul announced his ambitious plans in 2019 to launch a state-owned construction company and de-tender the province, insourcing employees.

OFM News previously reported the Northern Cape has recorded the smallest decline in the number of employed people in the country during the second quarter of 2020/21, but is in fact the hardest hit province when focusing on quarter to quarter percentage changes. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealed in the latest quarterly labour survey that 80 000 jobs were shed in the Northern Cape in the second quarter of 2020/21 - the least number in the country for this quarter. 

However, when you compare the number of employed people between the first and second quarter in the Northern Cape, the latest figures do in fact represent a 24% reduction - the highest, when compared to the other provinces.

The central South African province also recorded the highest rate of young people aged 15-24 years not in employment, education or training in the first quarter of 2020/21. At the time, youth unemployment in the Northern Cape stood at 41.6%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and its Central South African neighbour, the North West.

The OFM News team recently sat down with investor, author and small business expert, Pavlo Phitidis, to gauge his thoughts on the country’s unemployment woes. Phitidis urged South Africa’s increasingly disgruntled youth to acquire some work experience, albeit elementary, before venturing into entrepreneurship. He said the idea of being young and owning your own business without having prior work experience is one that is sold largely by the South African government, which has failed to support a thriving economy that offers sufficient job opportunities for its citizens.

OFM News