PAC wants unemployment declared a national crisis

The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) has called for the high unemployment in South Africa to be declared a national crisis that needs an emergent intervention from the top including imposing a moratorium on retrenchments,

PAC secretary for labour Vuyo Vanyaza said that as the unemployment rate was escalating, with the last figure recently released at 29.1%, the problem had reached unacceptable levels. He said the problem required that the government declared joblessness as a national crisis.

It must also impose a moratorium on all retrenchments in the country as a way to stem the tide of increasing unemployment.

“PAC also notices with great concern that the most affected population group with this crisis remains the indigenous African people where their unemployment rate currently stands at 46%. This alone exposes how the myth of 1994 political settlement which was sold to our people as ‘freedom’ continues to fail in addressing their socio-economic interests,” Vanyaza said.

According to Vanyaza, the PAC had taken a serious look at the escalating unemployment crisis facing the country and the party was disappointed to find that the registered unemployment rate was 28% in the first quarter and increased to 29% in the second quarter to the current 29.1%.

The party was also worried to note that over the same period, the youth unemployment had also increased dramatically.

“As the PAC of Azania, we call on the government to impose a moratorium on any form of retrenchment to save the remaining jobs, including the suspension of the planned SAA retrenchments. Furthermore, company owners who want to apply for liquidation (of SAA) must rather hand over [the] company to the workers to control and own,” Vanyaza said.

The PAC supports the workers’ struggle at SAA and other sectors of the economy.

“It is our firm belief that the lasting solution to this national crisis lies on overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism to give social character to the ownership of all the commanding heights of the economy under a workers-controlled state. We, therefore, call upon the working class to increase their class consciousness and realise that their emancipation lies not in perpetuating capitalism.”

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