Taking unemployment lessons from a bank boss who can't count?
There is no way that SA's unemployment rate is only 10%.
More than 8.2 million people were unemployed in the first three months of this year, 237 000 more than the three months before. But if Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie is to be believed, most of those don't count.
Fourie said this week that the unemployment crisis, which swallows more than one in four people in this country (43.15%), is being inflated and 'is actually around 10%'.
He claimed this is because official government statistics exclude those who sell amagwinya and others who rent out their backrooms to put food on the table.
He said these hustles are comparable to employment and encouraged entrepreneurship.
While most observers will tell you that small and medium business development should be the priority and entrepreneurship is essential to our economic future, surely we shouldn't be encouraging bylaw violations in our grand quest to create jobs?
Is suburban decay just job creation?
Both townships and suburbs are battling mushrooming land grabs and room renting as the demand for housing in urban areas continues to grow. Away from official statistics, just driving down the road or turning on the tap will show you how much of a strain this has on already frail infrastructure.
Illegal connections are found on many streets, hastily built rooms are erected without plans, approvals, or necessary skill, and spaza shops are opened with little regard for food safety.
If the millionaire rode down the same street, he might have to dodge the unroadworthy school transport drivers who pack the future generation into a taxi like sardines to maximise profit.
We have laws that prohibit these kinds of 'hustles' to protect infrastructure and people's lives.
Such criminality should be policed, not encouraged.
ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: So what if there is a shack in the back?
Making the informal formal
Fourie has repeated the call for the unemployment stats to include the informal sector, like other developing nations have.
This has been on the request list for 30 years and has been blue-ticked by the government because the sector is so fluid. Defining what sector falls under the informal economy is also problematic and requires regulations. But where do we start regulating and enforcing rules on the taxi industry, or on Tannie Marie selling doilies on Facebook?
And what about those in the illicit market? If the person begging for money at a robot is employed, then does that make the drug dealer sharing the corner employed too?
Giving government a pass
The problem with watering down the definition of employment is that it downplays the government's failures in addressing inequality and job creation.
There are dedicated ministries to labour, employment, and small businesses, and yet the scourge of joblessness continues.
Instead of holding the government accountable, it gives the impression that SA's job market is far better than it actually is. This may help corporates like Fourie sell a good image when trying to secure international deals, but it invalidates and silences the poor in the country that these businesses are built on the back of.
Allowing a corporate bigwig to tweak what employment means is as concerning as sending a billionaire to the White House to present government policy.
Sadly, like when Johann Rupert went to visit Donald Trump last month, that has already happened.
NOW READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Don't give BEE bully Musk your lunch money
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The South African
an hour ago
- The South African
Robbery suspect with toy gun shot dead by security officer in KZN
An off-duty security officer fatally shot a suspected robber who confronted him with a toy firearm in Ogunjini, KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday, 20 June. The security officer employed by a Durban-based company was returning home when a man approached him and drew what appeared to be a firearm, demanding his valuables. The officer responded by drawing his licensed 9mm pistol and firing two shots, striking the suspect in the chest. The wounded man dropped the weapon, later confirmed to be a toy and fled into nearby bushes, where he collapsed. Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) received a call for assistance at around 20:19. On arrival, officers found the suspect's body approximately five metres from the roadside. Officers recovered the toy firearm at the scene. The security officer told RUSA that four armed men robbed him on the same stretch of road a week earlier, taking his Samsung cellphone and wallet. Following that incident, he began carrying his firearm for protection. The attempted robbery on Friday did not injure him. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
9 hours ago
- IOL News
The ethical blind spots in SA's unemployment stats
South Africa's high unemployment also stands out globally. The writer says South Africa's metrics function as biopolitical instruments that perpetuate apartheid-era exclusion by rendering Black economic agency statistically non-existent. Image: File THIS opinion piece responds to former Statistician-General Pali Lehohla's article Debating the Labour Force Survey – A Response to Fourie's Critique. It serves as a rebuttal to his critique of my earlier article, Why Capitec's CEO Is Forcing SA to Rethink Its Unemployment Narrative, in which I argued that South Africa's unemployment figures fail to reflect the lived economic realities of the majority Black population. Lehohla claims that my article has 'amplified the debate' and insists on setting the record straight before it spirals into misinformation and speculation. However, my article did not reject StatsSA data outright. Instead, I argued that South Africa's high unemployment statistics are shaped by a biopolitical statistical system that invisibly erases informal economic activity and Black labour. This is largely due to restrictive measurement methodologies and the active suppression of the informal sector, unlike in other developing countries. I proposed the adoption of hybrid metrics and structural reforms to more accurately capture and support this vital, yet uncounted, segment of the economy. My stance aligns with UCT economist Haroon Bhorat, who engages constructively with Fourie's arguments rather than dismissing them entirely. Lehohla, however, dismisses Fourie's estimate of a 10% unemployment rate — based on informal economic activity — as 'abracadabra', 'lying', and the rant of a 'random businessman who profits from Black communities'. His anger masks a deeper crisis: South Africa's economic measurement system, though methodologically sound, is philosophically ill-equipped to account for the informal, digital, and survivalist nature of the majority-Black workforce. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Lehohla defends StatsSA's unemployment figures based on their adherence to International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards and the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). Yet, I argue that this technical rigour obscures vast swaths of economic activity. For instance, a township hairdresser or street vendor without formal records becomes statistically invisible. This creates a profound ethical issue: stark racial disparities in unemployment, with Black South Africans facing an expanded unemployment rate of 40%, compared to just 7% for white South Africans. South Africa's high unemployment also stands out globally. Countries like Mexico (55% informal, 4.5% unemployment) and Nigeria (85% informal, 3.34% unemployment) include self-reported informal work in their statistics. In contrast, South Africa's metrics function as biopolitical instruments that perpetuate apartheid-era exclusion by rendering Black economic agency statistically non-existent. Bhorat notes that UCT's Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) consistently shows South Africa having one of the highest unemployment rates globally (33.6%), but also one of the lowest informality rates (about 16.3%). He highlights how most emerging economies address unemployment not by creating more formal jobs, but by allowing informal work to flourish. DPRU research further suggests that South Africa's unusually high unemployment is not primarily due to poor job growth or strict labour laws, but because our economy actively suppresses the informal sector. My advice to DPRU is not to shy away from confronting the moral failures or societal consequences that their data may obscure. Lehohla's refusal to engage meaningfully illustrates the difficulty of escaping the grip of orthodox economics and its limitations. Orthodox economics treats the economy — and by extension, social life — as a predictable machine operating in equilibrium. When official statistics diverge from lived experiences, the social contract built on citizens sharing data begins to erode, revealing a deep crisis within the discipline of economics. Unlike Adam Smith — who grounded market value in ethics and social relations in The Theory of Moral Sentiments — modern economics has severed this moral root, prioritising abstract mathematical models over real-world complexity. Joseph Stiglitz warns that GDP-centric metrics obscure true well-being. Persistent youth unemployment amidst trillions of rands in township transactions is not merely an error — it reflects a flawed measurement paradigm. Kenneth Boulding adds that modern economics builds on classical works like The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital, which contain unrealised 'evolutionary potential' absent in contemporary models. He cautions that excluding economic history from graduate education produces 'idiots savant' — technically proficient economists who lack institutional understanding and historical insight. A balanced synthesis of modern analytical tools and classical wisdom can help bridge this divide, fostering critical engagement with economics as both a technical and humanistic discipline. Lehohla's defence rests on rigid positivism — the belief in the 'holy' authority of statistical processes — yet this glosses over the ethical roots of economic thought. For Smith, wealth was defined by the ability to command others' labour — a social relationship, not a cold data point. Modern economics, however, has decoupled itself from these normative foundations. As Stiglitz points out, most metrics conceal inequality and human suffering, reducing development to arithmetic rather than justice. This philosophical drift is evident in South Africa: while StatsSA reports rising unemployment, Capitec Bank documents over R2 trillion in township transactions — a vibrant economic reality invisible to official instruments. This disconnect signals a deeper crisis in economics. Equilibrium models and optimisation problems eclipse historical nuance, cultural dynamics, and power relations. Boulding warned of this technocratic drift, describing modern economists as technicians fluent in calculus but blind to social texture. In a direct response to me, Lehohla stated: 'There is no legacy to protect on my part, Bhungane (my totem), nor language to polish. When a lie is told, there is no reason to give it a different word. It is simply a 'lie,' and when an argument does not make sense, it is called nonsense in the English language, and when nonsense is given wheels and wings to fly, it is called 'rubbish.' Those who wish to opine should do so from research rather than from a hailer.' While I may not use his hyperbolic or confrontational language, I am neither uninformed nor inexperienced in public discourse. I have an academic and policy track record that makes me far more than 'a hailer.' As many have rightly pointed out, shouting or using aggressive language does not strengthen an argument. We must allow space for multiple viewpoints to ensure inclusive policymaking around poverty, inequality, land reform, and unemployment. Finally, Lehohla attributes South Africa's unique unemployment situation to two key factors: agricultural activity tied to land ownership and high levels of economic concentration. He argues that these factors challenge simplistic international comparisons and emphasise the centrality of the land question in shaping employment outcomes. No. Lehohla is deliberately conflating issues to obscure the fact that his revered unemployment metrics miss the ethical forest for the numerical trees. Siyayibanga le economy! * Siyabonga Hadebe is an independent commentator based in Geneva on socio-economic, political and global matters. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL. Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.
The South African
12 hours ago
- The South African
Duduzile claps back at Floyd Shivambu's 'takes drugs' comments
Duduzile Zuma-Samudla has finally responded to shady comments made by fellow MK Party MP, Floyd Shivambu. In a press briefing on Thursday, 19 June, the former secretary general accused his party nemesis of 'taking drugs'. Floyd was effectively demoted after the party condemned his visit to the wanted Malawian preacher, Shepard Bushiri, last month. On her Instagram Story, Duduzile shared a clip of herself laughing with EFF President Julius Malema. Like Duduzile, Floyd Shivambu threw Malema under the bus, claiming the latter was running a 'cult.' The daughter of Jacob Zuma captioned the clip: 'It's politics after all'. Image via Instagram: @duduzilezuma_sambudla Like Duduzile, Julius Malema has also subtly responded to Floyd Shivambu's comments. After the press conference, the 'CIC' reacted to Floyd's criticism of the EFF and those who supported him. Malema posted a clip of EFF top brass on X: 'The leadership we have is quite alright.' During the briefing, Floyd addressed several topics, including an interest in possibly establishing his own political party. The former MK Party secretary-general also used the opportunity to making shady comments about the ANC, which he labelled as 'directionless' and the EFF, which he called a 'cult'. Referring to his own party, Floyd made a comment many believe was directed at Duduzile, the daughter of the MK Party founder, Jacob Zuma. He said, 'When you raise issues internally, you don't need to gossip about them anywhere. All the issues and concerns I had about MK, I raised internally, even against all odds. When there is an opportunity to raise an issue about wrongdoings. I clearly speak against untouchables who take drugs, tweet at night, and insult us.' He added: 'We confront them and say 'What is this about?'' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
