By Francois Baird
South Africa’s unemployment rate is dangerously high and keeps on rising. The government desperately wants more jobs.
Why then does it keep on putting obstacles in the way of the poultry industry with its proven job creation capability?
This question arises out of two recent news developments – the first-quarter rise in unemployment to a new high of 32.9% and the government’s persistent refusal to compensate poultry farmers for the chickens they have had to cull during bird flu outbreaks.
The two are linked because other countries help farmers recover after bird flu outbreaks. South Africa does not – since the first outbreak in 2017, when it ordered the culling of 1.7 million chickens, to last year’s “disastrous” outbreak when 9.5 million birds had to be destroyed, no compensation has been paid.
The result is that jobs are lost, and possibly thousands more are not created. Large producers fall from profit to loss and are now slowly recovering when they could have been expanding production for local and export markets. Many small-scale farmers went bankrupt, closed shop and laid off their workers.
This is disgraceful in a country where 8 million people are officially unemployed, and 16 million are classed as “not economically active”. Youth unemployment in the 15-24 age group is 60%, and in the 25-34 age group it is 40%.
Many of these young people will be in impoverished rural areas where poultry production facilities are concentrated and where more jobs are desperately needed. Yet the answer on compensation for mandatory cullings remains “No”. Government should hang its head in shame.
Where is the focus on job creation, which should be the top priority for every government department? There has been lots of talk about economic growth needed to create the demand for jobs, but where is the concerted action to bring this about? The Reserve Bank is predicting GDP growth of only 1.2% this year, which means unemployment is likely to increase further.
South Africa’s poultry industry is an example of a sector where growth is frustrated, not because of industry actions but because of government. For the past few years, when the poultry master plan should have resulted in growth and jobs, poultry executives must often have felt that the government was working against them, not with them.
Francois Baird is founder of the FairPlay movement.
BUSINESS REPORT