South Africa’s unemployment crisis is often described as an economic failure. It is, more fundamentally, a failure of leadership. Millions remain excluded from the labour market and the data continue to reflect an economy that is not absorbing its people at the scale required.
Yet what remains insufficiently confronted is what lies at the centre of the crisis.
The national conversation is fragmented. Economists point to the structure of the economy. Business leaders raise concerns about regulatory constraints. Young, unemployed South Africans speak of exclusion, networks and limited access to opportunity. Policymakers invoke the enduring legacy of apartheid.
Each of the explanations carries weight.
What is less evident, however, is a sustained, collective focus on resolving the crisis. This is where the argument must shift. South Africa does not only have an unemployment crisis. It has a leadership crisis.
Unemployment at this scale is not incidental. It is the outcome of decisions taken, priorities set and in some cases, the absence of decisive action across institutions responsible for shaping economic and labour market outcomes.
Leadership, in this sense, is not confined to individuals. It is reflected in how systems function, how resources are allocated and how urgency is defined.
At a surface level, the crisis reflects familiar governance challenges. We see it where systems do not deliver as intended, where institutional mandates are not fully realised and where the alignment between capability and responsibility is uneven.
These are not isolated shortcomings. They shape the everyday experience of citizens navigating both the state and the economy. But the crisis runs deeper.
South Africa’s unemployment exists alongside significant concentrations of wealth and economic power. This is not a contradiction but a structural feature of the economy.
When discouraged job seekers are included, more than 11 million people are without work, according to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q4 2025. These coexist with those who hold the resources, influence and capacity to expand economic participation.
The question is whether the resources are being deployed in ways that meaningfully broaden access to work.
Those with economic power are often best positioned to drive employment creation, whether through investment, enterprise development or value chain expansion. Doing so, however, requires a shift in how value is defined, from accumulation alone to inclusion
and sustainability. This is not only a normative position. It is an economic imperative in a society where exclusion at scale undermines long-term growth and stability.
There are long-standing debates about whether such outcomes are inherent in the structure of capitalism and whether alternative systems could produce more equitable results. Evidence across different contexts suggests that no system, in isolation, resolves the question of employment.
The differentiating factor remains leadership: how individuals and institutions act in those systems, what they prioritise and how they respond to persistent inequality.
It is in this context that leadership must be interrogated more directly.
Consider the institutional response to unemployment. Government has, over time, introduced a range of initiatives aimed at improving labour market access.
The expansion of public employment services, skills development programmes and labour activation initiatives reflects an attempt to respond to the crisis. Indeed, recent performance reports indicate that targets related to work-seeker registration, employment counselling and work and learning opportunities have been exceeded.
The achievements should not be dismissed. They demonstrate administrative effort and a degree of system functionality. However, they also point to a more fundamental limitation. The distinction between facilitating access to opportunities and generating employment at scale remains unresolved.
Registering work seekers and improving placement mechanisms are necessary interventions but they do not, in themselves, expand the number of sustainable jobs available in the economy. This is where leadership must move beyond process and confront outcomes.
Similarly, proposed policy reforms aimed at encouraging job creation, including support for small businesses and adjustments to labour market entry conditions, reflect an attempt to engage with the problem more directly.
However, the interventions must be assessed carefully. The objective of expanding employment, particularly for new entrants, is critical.
At the same time, reforms must ensure that the pursuit of job creation does not come at the cost of eroding fundamental worker protections or entrenching precarious forms of work.
The balance between inclusion and protection is not easily resolved. It requires thoughtful, evidence-based leadership that is attentive to both economic realities and social consequences.
Beyond the state, the role of business leadership is equally central. Employment creation ultimately depends on the capacity and willingness of companies to invest, expand and absorb labour. Where this does not occur at the required scale, it raises questions about the broader orientation of economic decision-making.
This is not to suggest indifference or neglect. It is to recognise that prevailing models of growth might not be sufficiently aligned with the imperative of mass employment. Addressing this requires a re-thinking of how opportunity is generated across sectors, particularly in areas with higher labour absorption potential. Organised labour, too, operates in this ecosystem.
Historically, its focus has been on protecting the rights and conditions of those employed. This remains essential.
However, the scale of unemployment requires a broader engagement with the realities of those outside the labour market and with the policies and strategies that can expand inclusion.
Taken together, the dynamics point to a central conclusion. The unemployment crisis is not solely a function of economic structure. It is also a reflection of how leadership is exercised across the system.
This brings us to a critical question: What kind of leaders are we producing if the economy cannot absorb its people?
Institutions of higher learning and business schools in particular, cannot remain peripheral to the question. They play a formative role in shaping how future leaders understand value, risk, growth and responsibility.
If leadership continues to reproduce patterns that sustain exclusion, then the environments in which that leadership is developed must be examined.
At the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership, this responsibility is taken seriously. The school’s approach to leadership development is intentionally grounded in ethics, responsiveness and social awareness. Leadership is not framed narrowly as managerial competence but as the capacity to engage with complex, real-world challenges, including inequality, exclusion and the changing nature of work.
This orientation is reflected in both academic programmes and executive education offerings, which seek to equip leaders with the tools to think critically, act decisively and remain accountable to the broader society in which they operate.
Engagement with industry, government and communities ensures that this learning remains connected to lived realities. The aim is not to position the institution as a solution in itself but as a contributor to a broader ecosystem of leadership development that is better aligned with the demands of the present.
If unemployment is to be addressed meaningfully, leadership must evolve. It must move beyond narrow institutional or sectoral interests and engage with the larger question of how opportunity is created and distributed. It must be willing to confront uncomfortable trade-offs, to rethink established approaches and to act with urgency.
Workers’ Day offers an opportunity to reflect on these issues with clarity. It is a moment to recognise the gains made in securing rights and protections for workers. But it is also a moment to acknowledge the scale of inequality that persists.
In a context where millions remain without work, with Statistics SA recording that 3.5 million young people are not in employment, education or training, the meaning of Workers’ Day must extend beyond those in employment to those seeking entry into the labour market.
South Africa does not lack ideas or resources. What it requires is leadership that is prepared to align both in the service of a more inclusive economy.
Until then, unemployment will remain not only an economic crisis but a reflection of the limits of our leadership.
Professor Walter Matli is the executive dean and CEO of the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership.
Our high unemployment rate is not incidental. It is the outcome of decisions taken, priorities set and in some cases, the absence of decisive action across institutions responsible for shaping economic and labour market outcomes
