EDITORIAL | Soon we’ll have only the devil at work in SA

In SA today, more than 64% of people under 25 and actively seeking employment are unable to find a job.

That is an alarming figure, bound to cause instant and intensive despondency among anyone who understands how important the youth are for the future of a nation – and the titanic role that a failing economy plays in a country’s complete ruin.

The latest employment figures for the second quarter, released on Tuesday by Stats SA, put overall unemployment at 34.4%.

Our beloved country now has the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the 82 countries that business network Bloomberg tracks, overtaking Bosnia and Herzegovina at 32.7% in May, and Nigeria at 33.3%.

The extended unemployment rate, including those who have given up looking for a job, is at a surreal 44.4%. This translates to 7.8-million people actively but unsuccessfully looking for a job, and an additional 4-million who have simply given up any hope of finding work.

And there is more misery to come. The latest figures do not include all those who lost their businesses and jobs during last month’s violent unrest. Those statistics will be included in the third quarter, and they will not be pretty.

There is no silver lining here, no way to sugar coat it. If South Africa cannot provide jobs for its people, it has no future.

There is no silver lining here, no way to sugarcoat it. If SA cannot provide jobs for its people, it has no future.

As we sink deeper into junk status, our leaders continue to discuss earnestly and loudly how to turn the sinking ship around. Investment is courted and plans are made, some of them good. But time and time again we stumble at the final hurdle, implementation.

Have these new figures finally taken us past the point of no return? How much strength will it take to climb out of the abyss, and do our leaders have the discipline, tenacity and the ability to do it?

The knock-on effects of growing unemployment are massive. Government must shell out more on social support, while its revenue stream contracts as its tax base diminishes.

Crime and the potential for unrest increases. Much of July’s looting was fuelled by hunger and frustration. And is it a coincidence that crime stats released by police last week show that many forms of crime are up, including murder, which increased a staggering 66.2% for April, May and June?

Meanwhile, the ANC continues to bicker among itself, its competing factions wasting precious time devising war strategies to shore up power. Do they even see the desperate mothers, agonising over what – or when – they are going to feed their malnourished children?

In an interview with the Sunday Times earlier this month, newly appointed finance minister Enoch Godongwana hinted that he would rather invest in creating jobs for the youth than committing to a basic income grant. He said the current approach to the grant created dependency and did not address fundamental issues affecting youth unemployment.

He is not wrong. But coming up with a workable plan in the near future is a gargantuan task, and he will need unwavering support if he has even the vaguest hope of doing it.

And hope is in short supply. As SA slips a little further into the quagmire every day, it is fading fast.