Siyabulela Mama - Spokesperson for the Cry of the Xcluded

Decent work will not be delivered by market fundamentalism. It will be won through organised struggle, democratic planning and a decisive shift in whose voices matter.

From 23 to 25 February, beneath the vaulted ceilings of St George’s Cathedral, grassroots organisations from across the country will gather for a People’s Assembly on Unemployment, Austerity and the Fight for Decent Work. Convened by the Assembly of the Unemployed and Cry of the Xcluded, this meeting comes on the eve of yet another anti-poor, pro-capitalist Budget – one that is likely to deepen austerity in a country already buckling under crisis.

Just weeks later, a high-profile unemployment conference hosted by News24 and opened by Cyril Ramaphosa will bring CEOs, policymakers and experts together to debate the same issue. The contrast is stark. At the people’s assembly, the microphone shifts from boardrooms to breadlines. From policy abstractions to lived reality. Because unemployment should not be discussed about us, without us.

South Africa’s official unemployment rate is at crisis levels, and the expanded rate – counting discouraged work seekers – is more than 40%. This is not a temporary downturn. It is not a statistical anomaly. It is the predictable outcome of decades of liberalisation, privatisation and neoliberal restructuring that have hollowed out the productive capacity of the economy.

For years, mainstream commentators have insisted that unemployment is the result of a “skills mismatch”, excessively high wages or rigid labour regulations. These myths are repeated so often that they acquire the veneer of truth. Yet they collapse under scrutiny. Millions of people with qualifications cannot find work. Young graduates join the ranks of the unemployed alongside those with incomplete schooling. Wages for the majority remain poverty-level, and labour protections are weakly enforced. The problem is not that workers cost too much; it is that an economy built on financialisation, extraction and crony capitalism does not generate decent work.

The people’s assembly will confront this reality directly. It will reflect on how mass unemployment has widened inequality, fractured communities and entrenched despair. But it will also move beyond diagnosis to alternatives – debating state-led reindustrialisation, expanded public employment and a decisive break with policies that prioritise ratings agencies over residents

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