AFP, Johannesburg :
South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, takes over a country where post-apartheid optimism has been replaced by anger over continuing racial inequality, dire poverty and mass unemployment.
Here are some of the many challenges that await him:
At the heart of South Africa’s economic troubles is a 28-percent unemployment rate. Under an expanded definition that includes people who have given up seeking work, the figure is 36 percent.
Even more shocking is the youth unemployment rate — 55 percent in the second half of last year.
South Africa is the continent’s most-industrialised economy, but the severe lack of jobs fuels tension in many poor black townships and rural areas. There, many citizens are sorely disappointed by the lack of progress since the end of white-minority rule.
Ramaphosa is likely to seek to boost foreign investment partly through reforms to regulations controlling ownership of the mining sector, a key national industry.
The struggle to create jobs is hampered by an economy that grew just 1.6 percent a year under Zuma. Analyst say more than five percent a year is required to reverse the unemployment crisis.
Drought, low commodity prices and weak demand for exports have all taken their toll, as well as government graft and policy missteps under ousted president Jacob Zuma.
The World Bank predicts just 1.1 percent growth in 2019 — below the country’s population growth rate and therefore increasing poverty per capita.
Low growth has also increased the budget deficit. The nation’s debt was last year downgraded to junk status by the Standard & Poor’s and Fitch ratings agencies.
South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, takes over a country where post-apartheid optimism has been replaced by anger over continuing racial inequality, dire poverty and mass unemployment.
Here are some of the many challenges that await him:
At the heart of South Africa’s economic troubles is a 28-percent unemployment rate. Under an expanded definition that includes people who have given up seeking work, the figure is 36 percent.
Even more shocking is the youth unemployment rate — 55 percent in the second half of last year.
South Africa is the continent’s most-industrialised economy, but the severe lack of jobs fuels tension in many poor black townships and rural areas. There, many citizens are sorely disappointed by the lack of progress since the end of white-minority rule.
Ramaphosa is likely to seek to boost foreign investment partly through reforms to regulations controlling ownership of the mining sector, a key national industry.
The struggle to create jobs is hampered by an economy that grew just 1.6 percent a year under Zuma. Analyst say more than five percent a year is required to reverse the unemployment crisis.
Drought, low commodity prices and weak demand for exports have all taken their toll, as well as government graft and policy missteps under ousted president Jacob Zuma.
The World Bank predicts just 1.1 percent growth in 2019 — below the country’s population growth rate and therefore increasing poverty per capita.
Low growth has also increased the budget deficit. The nation’s debt was last year downgraded to junk status by the Standard & Poor’s and Fitch ratings agencies.
