LETTER: Race-based policies have failed — why implement them again?

Stats SA’s latest unemployment statistics show clearly that the government is failing dismally to address the severe unemployment crisis SA has faced for more than a decade (“Joblessness rises as SA buckles under power cuts,” May 16).

In the first quarter of 2013 the official unemployment rate was 25.2%. In the first quarter of this year it stood at 32.9%. This means the official unemployment rate has increased by a shocking 30.5% in the past 10 years.

The government is also struggling to reduce the high rates of youth unemployment: 62.1% for those aged 15-24 years, and 40.7% for those aged 25-34 years, in the first quarter of 2023.

Analysing unemployment across racial lines shows a far bigger problem. While year-on-year the comparative margin of unemployment across the different groups has slightly decreased, black unemployment remains high, and black people still experience the highest rate of unemployment.

In the first quarter of 2013, the rate of black unemployment was 28.8%. In the intervening 10 years it has grown by just over 29%, to 37.2%.

This is proof that race-based policies such as black economic empowerment are failing their intended beneficiaries. Race-based policies have only benefited a few politically connected individuals.

The amendment of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) will address neither the pressing issue of unemployment, nor the country’s racial poverty and economic inequality. The new law allows for “more aggressive” race-based policies, which are a proven failure. Doggedly implementing the same failed race-based policies in the hope of achieving a different outcome will not work.

The Institute of Race Relations opposes the draft EEA regulations, and will be challenging the constitutionality of the amended EEA in court.

South Africans desperately need jobs. The government’s continuous implementation of demonstrably ineffective race-based policies explains its failure to address persisting unemployment. Most importantly, it indicates that government has run out of ideas to fix the problem.

Mlondi Mdluli
Institute of Race Relations

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