Unemployment in metro rises on the DA’s watch
STATS SA releases a Quarterly Labour Force Survey, one of the principal studies informing those interested about employment and unemployment trends in South Africa.
The first quarterly survey covering the earliest period of DA government in Nelson Mandela Bay, the last quarter of last year, caused mayor Athol Trollip to boast in his state of the metro address that “we have reduced unemployment by 2.2% . . . and we are poised to continue to do so” (Minutes, page 9).
That this quarterly figure could have been caused by work of the previous council was not worth considering for Trollip – a positive press release is more valuable than the truth.
Since then, however, things have not gone as swimmingly.
The following is from the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, and covers the year October last year to the end of September this year:
South African metros (the first figure is the change in the percentage of the labour force unemployed and the second the percentage change in the number of unemployed people) Manguang -2.6%, no change Cape Town -0.7%, no change Buffalo City 0.7%, +7% eThekwini +1.3%, +8% Johannesburg +1.8%, +6.3% Tshwane +2.2%, +10% Nelson Mandela Bay +6.4%, +31% (A negative figure in the first column is a drop in the unemployment rate – hence good.)
Nelson Mandela Bay is the worst performing of the nation’s metros (and the General Motors retrenchment figure is not in these figures yet), and not by a little bit. This is followed by Tshwane and Johannesburg – what do they have in common?
So here we are: violent crime everywhere, while we pay for a metro police force who are not trained adequately to be allowed into conflict areas; facing rates bills now so big that they strangle our disposable income; with townships more dirty than ever before and where electricity cut-offs are a daily occurrence; with a mayor who picks three fights with every speech, and is now locked in battle with his unions, resulting in intermittent electricity and water supply; and, to top it all, with a local economy entering free fall.
Are you still happy with the change you voted for?
ANC councillor Rory Riordan, Port Elizabeth