Our brain drain is being pushed by unemployment

THE latest opinion polls tell us that unemployment is the biggest issue by far. The citizens of South Africa have spoken. Unemployment is the root of all evil and creates greater crime statistics, more hunger and more immigration. The brain drain is being pushed by unemployment.

Almost all the ills of South Africa are being driven by the lack of jobs. The Treasury tells us that income tax collection is at an all-time low, which is driven by unemployment.

The issue is then clear: we need to create an environment for job creation. We all know that the government does not create jobs, but its job is to create a situation where the private sector is able to do the necessary to employ more people.

We know that the harsh labour regulatory authority (both the various laws and the regulations) creates a handbrake to the conducive environment needed for job creation.

Probably the most prohibitive laws are employment equity with its social engineering and employment targets. Cadre deployment is the pinnacle of social engineering. All the factors are a cancer in SA’s industrial relations.

The Department of Employment and Labour is driven, not by creating an environment for job creation, but by the drive to discriminate against minorities in South Africa today, much like apartheid did so many years ago.

We also know that the small business sector is the engine room for job creation, and, sadly, the sector is reluctant to invest in its own businesses because of the negative regulations.

Our government has failed the small business sector. In the past few weeks, we have seen much written about the issue of cadre deployment and the ANC’s policy on cadre deployment. It voted against any investigation into its cadre deployment.

Speaker after speaker from various political parties lambasted the destructive nature of the ANC’s policy on cadre deployment. Cadre deployment fuelled the lack of productivity and the appointment of people who were not fit for purpose.

Cadre appointees get their appointment despite their lack of qualifications and ability. This practice seems to have poisoned not only the government but all the parastatals, and has indeed stretched into the private sector. The private sector is beholden to the ANC to try and get work from the government. The cancer has been at the head of the unemployment scourge in South Africa.

We need to put a stop to the practice of jobs for pals and then remove all the social engineering from the statutes and the regulations. We will eventually have a South Africa which views all people as being equal, not only on paper but in practice. The move away from minority discrimination has been largely successful in the Western Cape and has brought down unemployment to almost as low as 20%.

This is a work in progress. We need to respect our Constitution, in word and deed. This respect for the Constitution has been shown in many of the municipalities in the Western Cape.

Sadly, the House of Assembly was not able to show respect to the Constitution because the ANC is hell-bent on the destruction of our economy to the detriment of the people.

It has become clear that the government is scraping the bottom of the Treasury barrel. Announcements have been made by the Treasury that there is no further money to give to any of the departments.

We have seen communications from various departments who have frozen all new appointments and are supposedly cutting down on the “niceto-have” expenditure. For instance, the SAPS sent out a communiqué two weeks ago, freezing all new appointments and advising that no additional funding would be made available for overtime for the remainder of the 2023/2024 financial year.

They also advised that there would be no Sunday hours and public holidays would not be considered. At last, only essential travel abroad with limited personnel would be considered. Slowly but surely, the noose is tightening.

Slowly but surely, the wanton fraud and gross overspending is coming to an end, not because the government wants to correct things, but because there is no money left to waste or steal.

At last, we are going to see virtual platforms being used for meetings and gatherings. Interestingly, they said, “Only meeting with a security risk may be considered for a contact session on condition that the applicable head approves such application”.

We are moving into dire straits where the ANC government has seen the fruits of its fruitless and wasteful expenditure. From here, we need to get rid of the cancerous government and finally start moving forward.