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R8.8bn more earmarked for public employment programmes

R8.8bn more earmarked for public employment programmes
Neesa Moodley
By Neesa Moodley
19 Feb 2025
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Chaos ensued on Wednesday when the 2025/26 budget was suddenly not tabled, sending the rand into a tailspin and triggering turmoil in the Government of National Unity. “Cabinet, therefore, decided not to come and do a presentation of the budget”, said Speaker Thoko Didiza, stating a return on Wednesday, 12 March. Treasury has since lifted the embargo on the details that would have been presented. Here's what would have been allocated to public employment programmes.

In a bid to improve South Africa’s dismal unemployment rate, the government had planned to allocate an additional R8.8-billion to public employment programmes for the 2025/26 financial year.

The budget which would have been tabled on Wednesday has been postponed to March 12 after parties in the government of national unity could not reach agreement on a proposed VAT increase of 2%.

Had Finance Minister Enoch Godongwane tabled his budget additional public employment programmes funds would have been allocated as follows:


  • Department of Basic Education: R5.8-billion for the basic education schools employment initiative;

  • Department of Sport, Arts and Culture: Just more than a quarter of a billion (R0.35-billion) for the creative industry;

  • Department of Trade, Industry and Competition: R1.3-billion for the Social Employment Fund;

  • National Treasury: R0.45-billion for the Cities Employment Programme;

  • National Youth Development Agency: R0.55-billion for the National Youth Service; and

  • Department of Employment and Labour: R0.35-billion for the National Pathway Management Network, Innovation Fund and internships.


These key figures were contained in the now postponed budget.

On Tuesday Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS)  which showed that the country’s unemployment rate showed a marginal decrease of 0.2 percentage points to 31.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024, while youth unemployment decreased from 45.5% to 44.6%. Despite this improvement, 4.7 million young South Africans remain unemployed.

According to the Free Market Foundation, although the overall employment figures show a slight uptick in the number of people who are employed, the overall trend of mass unemployment remains unchanged, with many opting out of the labour force entirely.

“We have normalised a condition in which large swathes of people, who could be productive, are simply sitting at home doing nothing. Beyond their own sustenance, as a society, we are missing out on the potential talents and abilities of these millions of people,” Zakhele Mthembu, policy officer at the FMF, said after the release of the unemployment stats on Tuesday this week.

The 2025 Budget Review document notes that several regulatory obstacles hinder the country’s ability to create jobs. Amendments to labour market regulations to boost employment have been considered by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). The reform process has centred on simplifying labour regulations – including hiring and dismissal, enhanced protections for vulnerable workers and greater flexibility, with a particular focus on small businesses.

Reuben Coetzer, spokesperson for Free SA, had a slightly different perspective, pointing out that lessons from global success stories, such as Singapore and South Korea, show that countries that prioritise private sector job creation over government dependency achieve long-term prosperity.

“South Africa leads the world in only two things: the rolling maul and youth unemployment. But unlike the rolling maul, youth unemployment has no tryline, no victory, only an ever-expanding scoreboard of despair with each quarterly report,” he said.

“While any reduction in unemployment is welcome, South Africa cannot afford to celebrate small gains while ignoring the bigger picture. A 31.9% unemployment rate remains a national emergency – far above the global average of 5%.”

Coetzer believes that South Africa’s persistent unemployment crisis is not due to a lack of government intervention, but rather the result of too much intervention. “Expanding the public sector workforce without addressing inefficiencies, corruption and excessive government spending only worsens the country’s economic predicament,” he says. Instead, he recommends the government focus on creating a business-friendly climate by:

  • Reducing red tape and policy uncertainty that deter investment;

  • Reforming restrictive labour laws that discourage hiring;

  • Improving infrastructure to support business expansion;

  • Encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation; and

  • Ensuring fair competition by tackling corruption and political interference. DM

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