The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has described the end of 2024 as the most painful as many people remained unemployed.
The federation said the country faces structural unemployment, whose face remains the black majority, particularly women, youth and people living in the former Bantustans and in the mushrooming informal settlements.
Saftu said this is because of a “long-term capitalist crisis”.
South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, and the official rate is 32.1%. If discouraged workers are included (those who have given up trying to find jobs), the unemployment rate is 41.9%. For young people aged 15-34, the unemployment rate is 45.5%.
Saftu general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, said no hope was emerging on the horizon.
“We have inadequate space to highlight more than just a few of these parts of what can be termed a systematic poly-crisis of South African capitalism. But it is a global crisis, so we must also reflect on where we stand in a world where mismanagement of the chaos has enormous implications – especially because next November, the elites who are responsible, the G20, come to Sandton to backslap each other.
“The biggest challenge the country faces is that of structural unemployment, whose face remains the black majority: women, youth and people living in the former Bantustans and in mushrooming informal settlements around all our cities and towns,” said Vavi, adding that the numbers of people living in poverty and skipping a meal a day continue to rise, notwithstanding government social programmes.
He said given the increased need for jobs and a professionally staffed developmental state, the country must resist the government’s drive to reduce the number of public servants through early retirements and natural attrition.
“We call for maximum unity and a massive demonstration against the government’s budget speech, which the minister of finance will present on 24 February 2025. We must mobilise and ensure maximum unity among all public sector unions and federations to ensure the government improves its latest 5.5% wage offer.
“The long-term demands for proper housing schemes and improvements in government medical aid (until the National Health Insurance is in place) must not be sacrificed this time,” Vavi said.
He also called on the working class to launch a relentless struggle against the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) neo-colonial and neo-liberal programmes.
Vavi added that South Africa has remained the most unequal society, measured by income or wealth.
He said inequality soared not only after neo-liberalism was adopted more than 30 years ago in the first GNU, but also when the ANC maintained and then amplified apartheid-era National Party economic policies.
New data from the Swiss bank, UBS, showed that wealth (not just income) inequality has soared in South Africa since the 2008 global financial crisis, overtaking petro-dictatorships to become the world’s worst.
Vavi said this is all because of the stubborn ANC leadership that did not change tack despite the overwhelming evidence that the macroeconomic programmes they have pursued since 1994 have dismally failed.
“They have remained highly loyal to the Washington Consensus: the neo-liberal dogma and, since 2008, the austerity programmes that have made the already terrible situation even worse. This is even more obvious with the GNU’s insistence on staying the course of a failed austerity programme with one of the world’s highest interest rates, a reactionary policy that the International Monetary Fund and Treasury agreed to in mid-2020.”
Vavi added that this had also played a big role in the country’s social crisis.
He said the levels of criminality and substance abuse among the youth has reached pandemic levels.
“The carnage on our roads also underlines the catastrophic levels of unemployment, alcohol, and substance abuse. South Africa experiences approximately 25.1 road deaths per 100,000 population, ranking 42nd globally. The South African economy has lost around 1 trillion rands over the past seven years, averaging over R142 billion annually or 3.4% of the GDP.
“So desperate is the situation, the Road Accident Fund, as reported by SABC News, has raised concern over South Africans who throw themselves in front of moving cars to make claims as a survivalist but hazardous activity,” he said.
He said the working class must unite to fight hunger, and inequalities and continue to fight for the nationalisation of the mineral wealth underneath the soil, which was partially won in 2002.