SONA 2025: UNISA Political Analyst Says Creating Employment Is Not the Job of the Government

• President Cyril Ramaphosa said during the State of the Nation Address that the state will introduce various measures to create employment opportunities
• He also added that the Presidential Employment Stimulus created over 1 million temporary job opportunities since its launch during the COVID-19 period
• University of South Africa political analysts Professors Dirk Kotze and Mlungisi Phakathi weighed in on the SONA speech regarding employment

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, cabinet reshuffles, the State of the Nation Address, Parliament and Parliamentary committees, politician-related news and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE — The University of South Africa's political analyst Professor Dirk Kotze said that creating employment is the private and public sector's responsibility. Professor Mlungisi Phakathi, also from UNISA, said that the government must focus on creating work opportunities through empowering local businesses.

SONA on employment

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his maiden State of the Nation Address since the Government of National Unity was formed after the 2024 general elections. He said job creation is one of the three priorities of the GNU. One measure the state will adopt to create employment is introducing a graduate recruitment scheme to attract young people to work in public service.

Ramaphosa also said the state will establish a R100 billion Transformation Fund to fund black SMMEs. The Presidential Employment Stimulus, which he introduced during the COVID-19 period, created 2.2 million work and livelihood opportunities. The social employment fund created over 80,000.

Government can create all the jobs: Kotze

Kotze told Briefly News that it's not the government's duty to create employment alone. He said the jobs created through the Presidential Employment Stimulus were a temporary solution to meet immediate needs.

"Long-term employment must be created in the private sector, not the public sector. This all depends on how the economy grows. We have to have a higher economic rate of job creation, which is a byproduct of economic development. The government creating jobs is more like emergency measures," he said.

Professor Phakathi told Briefly News the government should invest strongly in rural communities which should be empowered to, for example, own clothing and textile shops to strengthen the township economy. He lauded Ramaphosa for mentioning that women will be empowered to participate meaningfully in the economy.

SONA 2025: State to spend R940 billion on infrastructure

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Ramaphosa announced that the government would spend R940 billion over five years to invest in the country's infrastructure. He said that R350 billion will be directed towards state-owned enterprises.

Briefly News spoke to Professor Kotze, who said building and maintaining infrastructure is a long-term goal. He said the government will focus on projects such as upgrading existing and building new infrastructure.

Source: Briefly News