Africa's unemployment rate is 4 times higher than the global average, writes the author.The emergency that our economy is facing is our unemployment rate – which is the single greatest threat to the present and future of our country, writesMay Day on 1 May is internationally recognised as Workers Day, which is a public holiday in South Africa.
Our country has a rich history of collective and organised labour, which more often than not intersected with, and played a crucial role in, the struggle against apartheid. The advent of democracy saw labour rights recognised, entrenched and protected in section 23 of our Constitution. Even today, South Africa's largest trade union, Cosatu, sits at the"right hand" of the ANC in the tripartite alliance, strongly influencing policy and governance and representing millions of workers.
For instance, consider that the world's richest man Elon Musk and Tesla are changing the way the transportation industry will function. In the not too distant future, there will be autonomous cars and trucks. These developments will reduce reliance on drivers in many companies. There are advancements in automation that are changing the nature of manufacturing and rendering certain jobs obsolete.
More people are unemployed in the national labour force than there are people who are meaningfully employed. This effectively makes workers day national unemployment day, national non-workers day. On reflecting on this workers day we must focus on SA's unemployment crisis.
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MmusiMaimane Disband the ANC who put us in this position through brainwashing our people with apartheid while they loot like every african country. Our people remain uneducated while our own keep us like this.