More than a decade after apartheid was brought to an end, South Africa still basks in the glow of that political achievement. On the economic front, however, there is considerable anxiety about unemployment in the country.
Thousands of youths roam the streets of the commercial hub, Johannesburg, in search of a job. Official statistics put the country’s unemployment rate at 26,2%, but union leaders say it may well top 40%.
”We have economic growth which doesn’t create jobs. This needs to be addressed,” says Malcolm Damon, director of the Cape Town-based Economic Justice Network of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa.
South Africa’s economy grew by 3,7% in 2004, its best performance since 2000.
There are fears that if nothing is done to resolve this anomaly, many South Africans may remain out of work for their entire lifetime.
”The reason is simple: they have no skills,” says Azar Jammine of the Johannesburg-based think-tank, Econometrix.
Under apartheid, South Africa’s black majority was offered inferior schooling, if any, effectively rendering millions of school leavers unemployable.
”The world has moved on, to where the modern job market requires skilled people who have studied things like mathematics, sciences, accounting and information technology,” says Jammine.
”We need massive education and training…We also need to change the mindset of our young people to try to get skills.”
These would include basic literacy, and perhaps a trade.
”They can learn plumbing, carpentry, painting – subjects that do not need a degree,” says Jammine. ”But, to encourage them to acquire those skills there must be a system in place.”
South Africa’s Department of Labour has made efforts in this regard.
Twenty-seven ‘Sector Education and Training Authorities’ – or Setas -were set up five years ago to co-ordinate the development of skills across all areas of the national economy.
Each authority includes representatives from government, the unions and relevant industries.
Setas also disburse money from a fund that has been created from a one percent levy on the budgets of all employers in South Africa. Under the Skills Development Act of 1998, employers can apply for a tax rebate of up to 3,846 dollars for every worker trained.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana told parliament on Apr. 5 that 4 461 810 workers had been trained under the Seta programmes to date, and that the labour department had trained 421,700 unemployed South Africans across the country’s nine provinces since 2001.
However, Mabalane Mfundisi of the Johannesburg-based South African Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition (Sangco) said more could have been done.
”Unfortunately there is two billion rand (about $308-million) which they have not used,” he said on Friday, adding that the authorities were also plagued by bureaucracy – as well as a tendency to hire unnecessary consultants.
Instead of holding seminars and conferences, said Mfundisi, the Setas should spend more money on training, particularly in rural areas where the majority of South Africa’s poor live.
Mfundisi worked at one of the Setas before moving to Sangoco, where he deals with unemployment and labour-related issues.
Nonetheless, government has extended the lifespan of the Setas for another five years, beginning in April 2004. ”I hope it will work this time around,” Mfundisi said.
For her part, Margaret Legum of the South African New Economics Network (Sane) said South Africa was plagued not by a shortage of skills, but by a ”shortage of jobs”. Sane is a Cape Town-based think tank and research group.
”I know thousands of people where I go to church who have skills and cannot get a job,” she said in an interview. ”I know a black woman lawyer who cannot get a job. I know builders who cannot get a job in the construction industry.”
Legum says government’s reliance on foreign direct investment to reduce unemployment must shoulder part of the blame for this situation: ”The government must stop hoping that reducing unemployment will come from foreign investment.”
To raise money for job creation, she believes a tax should be imposed on currency transactions and trading at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
”Every day an average of six billion rands (924 million dollars) worth of bonds get traded on the market. This is all speculative and it doesn’t add to the economy,” Legum notes. ”If taxed by, say, one percent of the total trading every day, it could raise a substantial amount of money for creating jobs and reducing unemployment.”
Pending some solution to the jobs crisis, debate has focused on ways of ensuring that households across the country which lack a breadwinner do not succumb to destitution.
Damon supports a suggestion being advocated by rights groups and union leaders to provide every South African with a monthly grant of 100 rand (about 16 dollars).
Government has shied away from the idea, saying it was too costly. But, with fears that an ever greater number of unemployed South Africans could turn to crime, talk about this matter continues.
The country’s crime rate was frequently cited as one of the factors which discourages investment, thereby aggravating unemployment: a classic vicious circle at work. – Sapa-IPS