North West has highest rate of unemployment, ‘govt to blame’

The North West remains the worst employer in the country, with the highest unemployment rate at 51.2%, according to the 3rd Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released last week.

The Western Cape has the lowest unemployment rate at 25.6%.

Labour and political activists and political analyst are blaming the North West government for unmanageable levels of unemployment.

“We believe that the job crisis in the North West is a direct result of the failures of the provincial and local government,” said Federations of Unions of SA’s general secretary Riefdah Ajam.

“Just a few years ago, many employers, including the labour-intensive Clover decided to close their businesses in the province, resulting in massive job losses due to an environment at local government which made it impossible for business to operate.”

Ajam was referring to the closure of the biggest cheese factory in Lichtenburg which had to close due to poor service delivery.

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The dairy company had previously complained about the water and electricity outages and pothole-ridden roads in the troubled Ditsobotla local municipality.

Malebana but has been looking for work since he passed matric

Thapelo Malebana, 29, drives a local taxi in Zeerust to earn a living but has been looking for work since he passed his matric in 2012.

“I started hunting for a job in 2013. When I realised it was tough, I went to do a driver’s licence and I’ve been driving a taxi since, but this is not the job I prefer,” he said.

“I must do it because I have my mother, two siblings, two sons and a girlfriend to look after”.

“Our provincial and local government should be working together to use land that is not being used for farming and manufacturing. Farms and factories have the potential to turn our situation around. The land where our parents used to work producing food is now forest and nobody is doing anything about it,” Malebane said.

NWU graduate struggling to find a job

Otshepeng Dipale, 25, completed his BA at the North-West University and is struggling to find a job. “Having a degree without income is very depressing,” he said.

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“This situation can lead you up to unthinkable behaviour such as drinking and smoking. There is just no political willingness to fight unemployment.”

North-West University political analyst Professor André Duvenhage said the current political environment was not conducive to the creation of job opportunities in the province.

“It seems that the ANC has the inability to create an environment where people would like to invest.”

“People are taking their investment to places like the Western Cape or outside the country due to weak systems of governance, corruption and nepotism.”

Promises made by ANC of job creation are ’empty and unfounded’

The Freedom Front Plus member of the provincial legislature (MPL), Erns Kleynhans, said: “This is unequivocal proof that the promises made by the ruling party of job creation are empty and unfounded.”

He said dysfunctional municipalities resulted in poor service delivery, causing failed water, sewage, electricity and road infrastructure.

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This made it close to impossible for businesses to survive.

“The macro policy of the ANC to create sector jobs is not sustainable, and is failing dismally due to the fiscus being under immense pressure.”

DA blames provincial government for the increasing unemployment

Democratic Alliance MPL Freddy Sonakile blamed the provincial government for the increasing levels of unemployment.

“Numbers don’t lie,” he said.

“North West’s highest unemployment rate is a sign of a collapsed government.

“Our provincial government fails to deliver even the most basic services, making it impossible for the private sector to invest in the province.”

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According to the QLFS. South Africa has 16.7 million employed and 7.8 million unemployed people in this quarter. An additional 3.2 million unemployed people have been discouraged from job hunting.

About 13.1 million people are not economically active.

The country’s official unemployment rate is 31.9%, which went down by 0.7%.