The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to come up with plans that will remedy the country’s dire economic situation.
The unemployment figures released by Stats SA for the second quarter showed that the employment figure has risen to 29% with as many as 10.2 million people unemployed.
Also, on Tuesday, Eskom announced that it had recorded a R20.7 billion loss this past year, after tax.
Mmusi Maimane says this is a loss that will be paid directly from the pockets of South Africans, using public money that is desperately needed to uplift the poor and vulnerable for bailing out Eskom instead. He says there is a need to establish an economic crisis committee.
“Over 10 million South Africans are unemployed. We need to take deliberate steps in order to deal with the economy, ensure that State Owned entities are reformed. And therefore I’ve written to President Ramaphosa to request an urgent meeting that we can share what ANC led government and the DA are doing. Where DA governments are in place, we’ve seen incredible success; where we have been able to partner with the private sector and ensure that jobs are created. We need urgent action now and President Ramaphosa cannot sit idle-by …,” says Maimane.
