During a visit to the US where I led a Western Cape government delegation to put forward our case as to why SA’s renewal in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) should be secured, I was asked by a reporter: do you not think you are overstepping your authority? My immediate and firm response was “no”.
The constitution grants the executive authority of the Western Cape, and every province, the right to implement national legislation within areas of concurrent national and legislative competence such as trade and tourism.
However, regardless of our constitutional rights, one of my key commitments and responsibilities to the residents of the Western Cape has and will continue to be to make it easier for everyone to get a job.
What would be at stake if we lost our access to US markets? Over the past 20 years, the US has been the top source market for inward foreign direct investment (FDI) into our province in terms of capital expenditure, and the second-largest based on the number of projects. The US accounted for a quarter of total capital expenditure and 22% of total FDI projects during this period. Between 2011 and March 2023, US companies invested R209.64bn in SA, and R33.34bn in the Western Cape. The US is among the Western Cape’s top five export markets, and provincial exports to the US are growing at a faster rate than in any other province.
We will fight for continued access to Agoa because as a government we must do all we can to enable the private sector to create more jobs.
Nothing gives a person dignity like a job. Nothing stops a bullet like a job. This has become my mantra, a proverb I repeat often either to myself or in public. Beyond an informal motto, it is also a priority of the Western Cape government, one which, while overshadowed by the crippling energy crisis, nonetheless remains a deep passion of mine: to create the conducive environment for as many jobs as possible to be created.
Creating jobs not only helps people become active economic citizens, who are able to add to our economy, but more importantly employment gives one a sense of purpose, worth and dignity. It is as important an economic factor as it is an existential one. Hope is desperately needed.
Every time the latest employment and unemployment figures are released, I hold out hope that things are turning around not just for the Western Cape but for all of SA. I have full confidence in the Western Cape government’s ability to enable a fertile employment environment, but I often ask myself, are we doing enough? Are we turning the tide? The truth is that there is a long road ahead for SA to beat back unemployment by growing the economy and safeguarding what advantages we do have.
According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey 360,000 more jobs were created in the Western Cape in the first quarter of 2023 than in the same quarter last year. This amounts to one in four jobs created quarter on quarter in our province. This comes on the back of another promising set of numbers that showed, that of the 169,000 jobs created nationally in the last quarter of 2022, 167,000 were in our province. The bigger jobs figure picture tells a story of incremental improvements: the expanded unemployment rate in the Western Cape, at 25.9%, is almost half of the national unemployment rate lurking stubbornly on 42.4%.
In part, the Western Cape’s promising employment climate comes down to fast-tracking services and cutting red tape to free the potential of businesses, particularly small businesses. Making it easier for them to operate means they can grow. And if a business or company grows it can employ more people.
South Africans face huge economic obstacles including rolling blackouts, the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and rampant corruption which have all stifled economic growth for years, further holding back our jobs trajectory. We are leading the way in creating an enabling environment to create more jobs but this environment exists in a poor economic climate. Our policies and programmes, such as the Growth For Jobs plan and international engagements such as in the US, are part of our arsenal to fight unemployment.
The key to bringing all employment creation strands together is for us to enable the private sector — from multimillion-rand companies to spaza shops — to grow. International trade has a role to play in making this happen.
• Alan Winde is premier of the Western Cape.
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