LETTER: Jobs growth in Western Cape not ‘fake news’

When it comes to jobs in SA it is imperative that facts prevail over fiction if we’re to turn our future towards certain and sustainable economic growth and continuous job creation.

However, Duma Gqubule seems to have been overlooked or confused many facts in his recent column (“Job creation in Western Cape is nothing to brag about”, April 23).

It is not “fake news” that between the third quarter of 2022 and the same quarter of last year 306,000 jobs were created in the Western Cape, 12.6% up year on year, or that 78.9% of all net new jobs over the last four years were in the Western Cape. These are official figures provided by Stats SA.

Gqubule attributes much of the Western Cape’s low unemployment rate to historical and demographic factors. He trots out a popular ANC refrain that the ANC was better at reducing unemployment in the years up to 2008. But if one examines the outcomes of the ANC in government versus those of the DA, the facts show that the DA has been more successful in real terms.

Between 2003 and 2008, during the global minerals boom years, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal made larger job contributions to SA than the Western Cape. However, in the period during which the Western Cape has been governed by the DA, measured from the fourth quarter of 2008, this province made the largest job contribution with 732,000 jobs (S&P Global Market Intelligence, Stats SA), ahead of Limpopo (596,484) and Gauteng (299 391).

In addition, the Western Cape’s 2.39% employment growth rate over the 15 years from 2008 to 2023 was far higher than KwaZulu-Natal's 1.85% and Limpopo's 0.75% respectively.

The contention that the Western Cape has always been an outlier with a low unemployment rate is not fully supported in truth. The Western Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal had similar unemployment rates (on the narrow definition) in the second quarter of 2018 at about 20% (Quantec, Stats SA). However, by the fourth quarter of 2023 unemployment in KwaZulu-Natal had increased to 29.3% and Limpopo to 30%, while the Western Cape’s is distinctively lower than its erstwhile contemporaries at 20.3%.

Gqubule’s assertion that the Western Cape “inherited this man-made advantage from the apartheid era” is yet another popular ANC trope to excuse its dismal performance on the jobs front in every other province where it governs. The facts show that the Western Cape had 423% more Africans employed in 2023 when compared with 1996 (S&P Global Market Intelligence, Stats SA), the highest growth in employment of black Africans in SA and more than double that of Limpopo, which had the second highest growth.

These facts show what can be achieved when a government entrenches an investor-friendly approach to economic growth and job creation. This approach is bearing fruit, and coupled with a proven track record of good governance is making a having a meaningful impact on the residents in this province, who deserve the opportunities that come with employment.

Make no mistake, there is far more to be done to decrease unemployment and narrow the vast inequality gap that persists across SA. This is a core objective of the Western Cape government’s economic strategy, “Growth For Jobs”, which aims to create a R1-trillion jobs-rich and inclusive economy that is growing 4%-6% a year in real terms by 2035. By boosting the foundations for economic growth and enabling the private sector we can achieve breakout economic growth that generates hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

In the Western Cape, continued job creation, decreasing unemployment and growing our economy for our residents — especially the most vulnerable — will always be our number one priority. 

Alan Winde
Western Cape premier

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