The unemployment rate for youths aged between 16 and 25 is 52% in South Africa, while in the Western Cape it is 49%, compared with a national average for all ages of 26,5%, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Thursday evening in Cape Town.
“The fact of unemployment at such horrendously high levels is obviously the biggest risk facing both the province and the city,” Manuel said.
He said the youth unemployment rate being higher than the national average is not unique to South Africa, but observable in most parts of the world.
“A large chunk of the answer to unemployment lies in upgrading the available skills, but none of this will happen without a huge investment in mathematics and science education, without which investment opportunities will remain in those sectors that have far lower prospects of dynamic growth,” Manuel said.
He noted that in 2003 only 3 937 Western Cape pupils passed mathematics at higher grade in the Western Cape out of more than 38 000 who wrote matric. He also said that less than a third of those who obtained their mathematics pass were from previously disadvantaged communities.
“An enormous concern that we should discuss in the context of labour absorption is the fact that school dropout rates are horrendously high, so a mere 45% to 52% of those who enrol at grade one reach grade 12,” he said.
The high youth unemployment rate in part means that violent crime is high, with homicide being the leading cause of death in Cape Town at a rate of 70 per 100 000.
The highest rates are in the poor suburbs of Nyanga (133) and Khayelitsha (120), and the lowest rates in the relatively rich suburbs Blaauwberg (33) and the South Peninsula (35).
Aids-related deaths feature third on the list of causes of death and affects more women than men, Manuel said.
Road accidents are the ninth cause of death — again the highest rates are in Nyanga and Khayelitsha and the lowest in Blaauwberg and the South Peninsula, with a seven times greater risk in Nyanga than in the South Peninsula.
Manuel noted that in general, more affluent areas have more property-related crime, while poor, disadvantaged areas experience more serious violent crime.
Some areas are treated by police as priorities as they have higher crime levels: Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Kuils River, Nyanga, Gugulethu and Phillippi.
In these Cape Town suburbs, homicide rates are significantly higher than the national average, the number of burglaries is twice the national average and the number of cases of child abuse is almost thrice the national average, Manuel pointed out.
“The linkages between inequality reduction, poverty reduction and growth are central to dealing with the extent and nature of crime. The truth about health care is that large chunks of disease can be prevented by attending to a range of ‘other’ issues, including services like water and sanitation and a huge investment in education, to try and alter the conduct of people,” Manuel said. — I-Net Bridge