LETTER: If SA’s leadership is not terrified about joblessness, a permanent national crisis is on the cards
I seem to have riled some comrades — albeit mostly sycophants — when I stated that the ANC was performing poorly at growing the economy. As it stands unemployment is at 27.2%. Among those aged 24 to 35 years, one in three young people is effectively disengaged from the labour market. Worrying figures among "neets" — "not in employment education or training" — should also be a great cause for concern. Ultimately, the youth are most vulnerable to poverty and unemployment as they make up about 60% of unemployed persons. If anybody in leadership looks at these numbers and does not feel some sense of panic, the problem is bigger than these statistics, because an indifference from leadership on this subject implies some permanence to this national crisis. I suppose like many things in South African society we look at larger national problems through a factional prism, when in real terms the ANC at large just has not done enough on the economic front. Many social successes can be credited ...
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