Sunday Times reports that Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie is sticking to his guns over the true number of unemployed in SA despite widespread rejection of his comments that the jobless rate is about 10% if the self-employed are taken into account.
According to Fourie, the official Stats SA unemployment rate of 32% does not paint an accurate picture and SA should emulate Mexico, which factors in the informal economy in reporting an unemployment rate of less than 3%. On Friday, Capitec acknowledged the controversy that Fourie’s comments provoked. Stats SA had called the comments “misleading and incorrect” and the EFF had condemned them as “an attempt by the white capitalist establishment to hide the failure of the DA-ANC coalition government.” Capitec said in response: “Our intention was never to downplay this reality [of unemployment], but rather to broaden the conversation to include the immense, often unmeasured, economic activity within the informal sector. From our extensive presence in communities across the nation, we witness the daily resilience and entrepreneurial spirit of people who are creating their own opportunities. To overlook this vital part of our economy is to ignore a key driver of potential growth.” Capitec added that the focus should be on enabling growth, not arguing about numbers: “The challenge is not to debate statistics, but to find actionable solutions to develop skills and provide access to markets and funding to enable growth.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
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