Author and poet Rabbie Serumula. File image.
Johannesburg - South Africa’s skills crisis has landed on the back of an eagle, and unemployment is its own wings made of feathers and wax, eager to propel itself to the sun.
Some economic soothsayers say our country’s unemployment could rise by 40% - I hope it has not heard of Maya Angelou.
The pulse of our future economic growth is faint. The country’s unskilled and semi-skilled unemployment problems are looming.
Millions of adults are excluded from part taking and part giving to the country’s economic life.
We already have more than enough for a lifetime, but more hunger is coming - let's pray the rain visits us often, and the remains of our ancestors have fertilised the soil, and the seeds; may we speak words of endearment to them before, during and after they have grown in our gardens.
If we don’t grow self-sufficient, we will keep growing the labour market that can’t create jobs for us all.
I suppose it depends if you are left or right-handed because sometimes when one hand washes the other, only one backhand is rubbed harder.
On one hand, South Africa’s demographic outlook suggests that its labour force will grow by almost 350,000 adults yearly. But on another, the country will only be able to create 200,000 jobs. This suggests unemployment may have heard of Maya Angelou, still, it will rise, reaching 40% within the decade. In South Africa, the hand creating the jobs is always rubbed harder.
Statistics South Africa's Quarterly Employment Statistics show that over 100 000 people lost their jobs from March to June this year, and the outlook is dark, uncertainty is also rising over the onset of a global recession.
What chance do unskilled and semi-skilled workers have, when there are over 800 000 fewer jobs for them now, compared to the pre-pandemic, 2019 fourth quarter period?
They were more likely to lose their jobs during lockdown and less likely to subsequently regain them.
Millions of unemployed adults are excluded from planting seeds for our country’s economic lifespan, denied speaking words of endearment to them before, during and after they have grown in our gardens, contributing to a decline in South Africa’s social cohesion - a ‘divide the communities and conquer their minds,’ if you may.
Government dependency is an unfortunate fact.
If we don’t grow self-sufficient, we will keep growing the labour market that can’t create jobs for us all. Yes, we are thirsty, but we exert too much energy squeezing the rock, instead of looking around for dew on leaves.
Yes, we are hungry, but we spend too much money on lottery tickets instead of bags of seeds. Our backyards could be gardens, but our background has taught us to shack up our families there. I wonder if they would demolish or unearth fields of vegetables 'illegally planted' on government land as they do brand-new shiny shacks.
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