Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis says South Africa’s deepening unemployment crisis demands a sense of urgency and structural reforms, not just investment conferences.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently defended the effectiveness of recent investment summits, stating that commitments were incrementally being translated into employment opportunities.

However, Hill-Lewis has criticised Ramaphosa’s approach, pointing to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey data, which showed that 345 000 jobs were shed in a single quarter, causing the national unemployment rate to climb to 32.7%.

He believes South Africa's unemployment crisis is not inevitable but a direct result of outdated ideological blockages and political choices.

Hill-Lewis pointed to the DA’s governance record in Cape Town, where the official unemployment rate dropped, which the DA leader said proved that capable, pro-business governance led to job creation.

He is urging the Government of National Unity (GNU) to accelerate ongoing reforms in energy, logistics, water, and other infrastructure with far greater urgency.

He said while national government policies had historically fallen short, the current coalition was an opportunity to push the country’s growth trajectory.

He argued that while the national government frequently spoke warmly about attracting foreign and domestic investment, its actual policies and administrative failures had made investing in South Africa unnecessarily difficult.

“Businesses are asked to invest in a country where ports do not work properly, rail is unreliable, crime is out of control, many municipalities are failing, and electricity remains too expensive and unreliable,” he said.

Hill-Lewis said the direct consequence of these systemic failures showed in the country's devastating unemployment data.

South Africa's unemployment crisis remains among the deepest globally.

Hill-Lewis blamed economic failures on the African National Congress (ANC), claiming weak administration, failing municipalities, neglected infrastructure maintenance, and corruption in ANC municipalities have suppressed business growth and stifled job creation.

By contrast, the Western Cape and Cape Town offered a blueprint for economic resilience, he stated.

Hill-Lewis highlighted that the Western Cape boasted an unemployment rate of around 20%, significantly outperforming the national average of 32.7% and that Cape Town continuously led other South African metros in job creation, service delivery, and investor confidence.

Hill-Lewis attributed this to “a deliberate focus on governance basics”.