Jobs bloodbath a clarion call for vaccine mandate, renewable energy uptake and basic income grant implementation
29 November 2021
The 3rd quarter labour force report confirms an ongoing jobs bloodbath in South Africa. The country is struggling to rebound from the Covid-19 economic meltdown, and is continuing to squander opportunities to fix things.
The 35% official unemployment rate (which is closer to 50% when you include those who have given up looking for work) is beyond dire. It is economically and socially unsustainable, and has the potential to ferment conditions of instability.
South Africa cannot continue to tinker around the edges, and cannot be held to ransom by ruling party factionalism that has the effect of erecting speedbumps on the road to recovery. Government must take decisive and courageous steps to lead the country and rebuild the economy.
In order to bring stability to existing economic activity and trade we must mitigate the prospect of any more pandemic-related lockdowns by rapidly increasing the number of adults fully vaccinated. The President’s announcement, on Sunday evening, of a vaccine mandate task team is welcome but we need a swift decision to implement this mandate. Vaccination mandates have been known to rapidly increase the rates of immunization and it is clear that South Africa cannot afford to dawdle and risk another surge of infections that will require further trade restrictions. We urge the government to bring certainty to the vaccine mandate debate.
South Africa cannot achieve economic growth to create jobs in a climate of intermittent electricity failures. The energy supply has to be stabilised. Additional energy capacity must be added to the grid and the fastest way to do so is with renewable energy provided by independent power producers. The regulatory and procurement processes have dragged on for long enough. We need decisive and urgent action that ensures a stable, reliable and adequate supply of electricity. Jobless South Africans should not be at the mercy of energy supply indecision and hesitancy.
No adult can be expected to live without access to any income. This is a ticking time-bomb, and a fundamental injustice in a country with the resources South Africa has. We have debated and delayed a decision on a basic income guarantee or grant for long enough. For as long as our economy is not generating enough jobs to provide work opportunities to those desperate for work we have an obligation to provide a basic income to those who have none. Urgently.
Issued by Brett Herron, Secretary-General, GOOD, 29 November 2021
