Bloomberg News reports that as SA grapples with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi wants to add as many as two million new jobs before the next elections.

About 12 million South Africans are without jobs. Unemployment according to the expanded definition, which includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job, is at 45.5%. SA will go to the polls in 2024 and the lack of jobs is likely to be a key issue in the run-up to the elections. Strict labour laws, stagnant productivity, bureaucratic hurdles and a skills shortage have reduced the ability of South African companies to hire additional workers. "Whether or not that is achievable, I don’t know," Nxesi said of his goal in an interview on Tuesday. The government was working on policy amendments to prioritise South Africans’ access to jobs over foreign nationals with the same skills, he indicated. The high unemployment rate has added to anti-immigrant sentiment among some South Africans who resent facing additional competition for jobs. Reducing undocumented immigrants would be vital in addressing unemployment, according to Nxesi. There has been a trend of "employment of foreign workers at the expense of the South African workers," Nxesi claimed, adding that the issue was “the employers who deliberately employ these vulnerable people." To limit the influx of illegal migrants from neighbouring nations, SA wants to establish a border control agency. The Border Management Authority will have branches at six border posts to begin with, and employ people from various government departments to tighten the implementation of immigration policies.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by S'thembile Cele at Fin24

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