Can the jobs pact solve South Africa’s unemployment conundrum

By Felicity Duncan

Unemployment remains the cancer at the heart of the South African economy. As Cyril Ramaphosa said at Thursday's job summit, "It diminishes the human ability to eradicate poverty, tackle inequality and working poor. It has a devastating effect on families and communities. It erodes dignity. As you look at unemployed people, they go around like zombies – aimless. They have their dignity destroyed and eroded. It contributes to social problems like poor health, poor educational outcomes and criminality."

Unemployment in South Africa is also something of a puzzle. There are millions of healthy, able-bodied people in the country – a vast natural resource – yet they sit idle. South Africa must find a way to tap into this resource, and I hope Ramaphosa's jobs pact makes it possible.

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