The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) notes with deep concern the tepid economic growth of 0.1% for Quarter 1 of 2025.  Whilst it is an increase of 0.7% from the first Quarter of 2024, it remains painfully low, given the urgent longstanding need to push annual economic growth to the 3% plus required to tackle our staggering unemployment rates of 43.1% overall and 72% for youth.

Unemployment remains South Africa’s existential threat. We cannot continue to normalise such high levels of joblessness.  It is a ticking time bomb that government working with business, labour and society must pull out all stops to defeat.  A bold and decisive Marshall Plan is required to drive South Africa’s economic growth and create the decent jobs the working class desperately needs.

This Marshall Plan needs to be premised upon:

• Capacitating the state to deliver the public services society and the economy depend upon to survive and thrive.
• Providing State-Owned Enterprises, the support needed to enable them to once again becomes enablers of growth in their economic sectors; in particular Eskom, Transnet, Metro Rail as well as the Post Office, Postbank, Denel and the SABC, amongst others.
• Stabilising and rebuilding distressed and dysfunctional municipalities, and ensuring communities receive basic services.
• Providing law enforcement, the resources and support needed to tackle crime and corruption.
• Allocating the South African Revenue Service an additional R12.5 billion to boost its efforts to improve tax compliance, including the R800 billion in outstanding taxes owed to the state.
• Accelerating the roll out of the R1 trillion economic and related infrastructure programme.
• Ramping up public and private financial stimulus for SMMEs, industrialisation and export sectors.
• Drastically expanding public employment programmes, as well as internship and artisanship programmes in the private sector.
• A revived buy local campaign mobilising the public and private sectors as well as ordinary consumers to support locally produced goods.

We have had enough alarm bells sounding.  It is time government and the private sector treat the disastrous levels of unemployment as our single greatest crisis.  Slashing unemployment must be elevated in the same manner that COVID-19 was dealt with.  After more than a decade of the economy stumbling along 1% growth and unemployment reaching record levels, it is time government shift gears before it runs out of time.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Cell: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za