Johannesburg - The National Union of Metalworkers of SA has blamed capitalism for the country’s unemployment woes, and called for the nationalisation of steel assets.
This comes after Statistics SA this week revealed that the unemployment rate had risen to the highest on record to 26.7 percent as factories, wholesalers and retailers cut jobs.
“South Africa has not done enough to create jobs,” statistician-general Pali Lehohla told reporters in Pretoria. “Enough is when you’ll see a change in the trend. At the moment there is no indication of a turning point and the economic climate is not helping.”
South Africa’s economy has struggled to increase employment since the 2009 recession.
Numsa has declared that it is “appalled” by the latest unemployment statistics, as unemployment rose 2.2 percentage points from the end of last year to the end of the first quarter of this year.
Read also: SA’s unemployment rate peaks at 26.7%
In a statement released late on Tuesday, the union notes the expanded unemployment rate, which includes those who were available to work but did not look for work in the period, rose even more sharply; from 33.8 percent to 36.3 percent. This measure, it says, is more realistic.
“This means that 5.7 million people who are actively looking for jobs cannot find any‚ up from 5.2 million people in the fourth quarter of last year.”
Bloodbath
The metalworkers union says the “grim” statistics confirm its fears that SA is in the midst of a job-loss bloodbath; a situation it says is because “monopoly capitalism is plunging the country into a catastrophic crisis, which will inflict misery upon millions of workers and the poor”.
“It is part of a global recession in which South Africa is especially hard-hit.”
Numsa says workers will not stand for this, and will fight back against a “capitalist system which ruthlessly exploits them [workers] when they are employed and then back tosses them on to the scrap-heap when the economy crashes”.
The union notes that the bulk of job-losses took place in the construction, manufacturing - where it has the bulk of its members - and trade sectors.
“Numsa will never accept that workers must pay for an economic crisis that is none of their making, but a structural crisis of a global monopoly capitalist system.”
However, Kamilla Kaplan, an economist at Investec, said: “Weak economic growth, low commodity prices and low rates of private sector investment have suppressed formal-sector employment growth.”
Jeffrey Schultz, an economist at BNP Paribas Securities, has said: “Until the economy gets itself on a stronger growth path, the ability of this economy to create a meaningful number of jobs is going to be curtailed. Until such time as we get growth stimulating policy initiatives out there and investments in this economy, the outlook for job creation is looking pretty dire.”
Read also: Gordhan: SA needs ‘new engines of growth’
Nationalise
The union says the government must dump the current macro-economic framework and re-nationalise the steel industry, and take over Evraz Highveld steel and re-open it on an urgent basis, and open Mapochs Mine and Vancham.
“Government must not just nationalise the steel industry only, but the whole value chain: iron ore, manganese, coal, and vanadium. Eskom must deliver cheap electrify tariffs to battling industries, and small medium size companies.
Read also: Closure of Highveld Steel leaves trail of hardship
“Eskom must give cheap electricity tariffs to smelters so that we can beneficiate our iron ore and stop exporting jobs to China as a result of exorbitant tariffs increases, because by the time Eskom finish building Medupi or Kusile power stations there will be no industry to supply electricity to.”
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