‘Politicians should stop running the economy’
Chief economist at Econometrix Azar Jammine says the country's economic growth and job creation would increase significantly if the private sector was allowed to run the economy.
The latest unemployment stats have revealed near record-levels of joblessness as the economy continues to bleed jobs.
Unemployment during the second quarter of the year stood at 29% - the highest since 2008.
Jammine says part of the problem is government interference and this is only likely to see a further increase in the unemployment rate.
South African Federation Trade Union (Saftu) general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says the expanded unemployment rate of 38.5% and the youth unemployment rate of more that 55% is nothing less than catastrophic.
"More and more people are indebted. There is no escape, from the middle class to the working class. Everyone is facing a doomed picture, particularly the youth in the country."
Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu) Sizwe Pamla says when the government has adopted a policy of retrenchment, the unemployment rate cannot decrease.