The DA has blamed the ANC for the latest job statistics which show that formal employment dropped by 229,000 in the past year.
In a statement on Tuesday, DA MP Michael Bagraim blamed the ANC for businesses avoiding full-time hires, claiming the party’s labour laws are too rigid, punitive and anti-growth.
The DA had previously claimed its policies were front and centre in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government.
During this year’s state of the nation address in February, DA leader, John Steenhuisen said cross various portfolios, DA ministers were instrumental in pushing reforms that would pave the way for a more prosperous, inclusive and competitive South Africa.
“In less than a year, the DA’s inclusion as a key coalition partner in the GNU has shifted South Africa onto a fundamentally different path,” Steenhuisen said.
“We will continue to use our influence to shift the president’s continued commitment to the Transformation Fund and the Public Procurement Act. These policies, in their current form, threaten to undermine our goal of creating a South Africa where work is available for all citizens.
“We will continue to use our influence to address some of the problematic policies that are not promoting jobs and growth.”
The party, which joined the ANC last year in a government of national unity, lauded its own plans to reform labour, scrap race-based legislation and open the economy to real job creation.
The DA said the jobs crisis demands immediate reform, and only real action can turn opportunity into work for millions.
Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Employment Survey shows:
- Total employment decreased by 80,000 quarter-on-quarter, from 10,589,000 in March to 10,509,000 in June.
- Total employment decreased by 229,000 or 2.1% year-on-year between June 2024 and June 2025.
- Full-time employment decreased by 44,000, from 9,457,000 in March to 9,413,000 in June.
- Full-time employment decreased by 55,000 or 0.6% year-on-year between June 2024 and June 2025.
- Part-time employment decreased by 36,000 from 1,132,000 in March to 1,096,000 in June.
- Gross earnings increased by R2.2bn, or from R984.7bn in March 2025 to R986,8 billion in June 2025.
“South Africa cannot afford to stumble along this path. That is why the DA has tabled a six-point plan to turbocharge growth and open the doors to work,” Bagraim said.
Central to this plan is:
- fixing labour laws so that hiring becomes easier, not harder;
- scrapping race-based legislation like BEE and the Employment Equity Act which strangle small businesses; and
- replacing them with a system that empowers people on the basis of need and merit.
The DA is pushing for action in the cabinet, in parliament and across every sphere of government, he said.
“Every day reforms are delayed, more South Africans join the unemployment line. The choice is stark: either keep the ANC’s broken system that kills jobs or back the DA’s plan to deliver growth, opportunity and full-time work for millions.”
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