Tebogo Msimanga |
The Democratic Alliance ( DA) says despite marginal improvements in the unemployment rate on the back of imperfect data, the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) underscores the need for fresh economic thinking.
DA Shadow Minister for Employment and Labour Michael Cardo said they are confronted with a pandemic of joblessness. “But instead of mitigating the national disaster with workable solutions, the ANC is recycling the same tired old ideas ahead of its Policy Conference in July”.
Cardo added that the ruling party’s discussion documents reveal a dearth of innovative economic proposals. “Meanwhile President Cyril Ramaphosa still clings to the fallacy that Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a ‘must for growth’”.
Cardo further said all of this just shows that the ANC is stuck chin-deep in the economic quicksands without any sort of a roadmap or compass. It can only drive us deeper and deeper into the morass.
He reiterated that the private sector alone is able to create jobs at scale by absorbing predominantly low-skilled people into employment. “The DA is committed to unleashing the private sector’s potential”.
“Until the government takes the hard decisions that will begin to arrest our economic decline — like reforming the rigid labour market, scrapping racial legislation and ditching its hare-brained localisation scheme – SA is headed for mounting job losses.”
