ANCYL urges Ramaphosa to declare youth unemployment a national disaster as rate rises to 33.6%

According to IOL, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has renewed its call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare youth unemployment a national disaster after South Africa’s official unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026.

Surge in unemployment and the ANCYL response

Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, released on Tuesday, showed the number of unemployed people increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million between April and June. The increase pushed the official unemployment rate up by 0.9 percentage points from 32.7% in the first quarter, IOL reported.

According to IOL, ANCYL secretary-general Tsakani Shiviti said the figures underscored the scale of the challenge facing young people entering the labour market and renewed the league’s call for the president to treat youth unemployment as a national disaster.

“With youth unemployment remaining at crisis levels, we cannot continue to approach the matter through ordinary interventions and business as usual,” Shiviti said.

Shiviti called for an urgent government response with clear responsibility for creating employment and bringing young people into the productive economy. She said the response should focus on the real economy, sustainable work, accelerated industrialisation, and support for youth-owned businesses and co-operatives, and should strengthen links between education and employment so young people benefit from economic investment and development, IOL reported.

“This is not a call for another programme or another commitment. It is a call for the state to treat youth unemployment with the urgency and seriousness that its scale demands,” Shiviti said.

Political reaction and wider labour trends

According to IOL, ActionSA MP Alan Beesley highlighted further labour-market deterioration, saying 361,000 fewer South Africans were employed at the end of the first half of 2026 than at the start of the year. Beesley said employment declined by 345,000 in the first quarter and a further 16,000 in the second quarter.

IOL reported the number of unemployed South Africans reached 8.5 million, while the expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged work-seekers, rose to 43.8% from 43.0% a year earlier. Beesley said more than 12 million South Africans were now either unemployed or had become discouraged from looking for work, according to IOL.

Beesley also raised concerns about the manufacturing sector, which he said had shed 100,000 jobs over the past year, a 6% decline. He linked job losses and economic strain to illicit trade and to corruption exposed by the Madlanga Commission, and criticised what he described as internal divisions within the Government of National Unity that he said were occurring while unemployment rose, IOL reported.

“We made this call following the previous employment figures, and the latest data demonstrates that the government has failed to change course,” Beesley said.

“South Africans need a government focused relentlessly on creating jobs, supporting legitimate businesses, attracting investment and restoring the productive capacity of the economy,” he said. “President Ramaphosa must act. South Africa cannot afford another six months of a government that watches employment disappear while it fights amongst itself.”

What the ANCYL says next

According to IOL, Shiviti said the ANCYL would continue to place youth employment and economic emancipation at the centre of its programme.

“We refuse to accept mass youth unemployment as the permanent condition of young people in South Africa. The President must act,” Shiviti said.