Panel 6: Social Issues and Political Economy

Summary: Education plays a critical role in the economy. South Africa has various education constraints, discussed in this commentary, that impede employment growth. These include the poor quality of early education and too few youths completing post-school education and training. The writer interrogates the causes of these constraints and recommends policy intervention programmes including more effective tools to measure the progress of students, improved access to computer-based subjects, greater accountability for principles and increased parental involvement.

Summary: It is critical to grasp the depth and scale of the unemployment crisis in South Africa, explore its causes and urgently implement the necessary reforms. Illustrating the severity and multi-generational nature of unemployment in South Africa, this commentary explores why economic growth is low and unemployment keeps rising and how policy choices have influenced this reality. The proposal is to focus on reforms that accelerate growth of the economy, while deepening the inclusiveness of this growth. The writer puts forward several implementable reforms that would enable labour-intensive activities to emerge.