We need to get South Africa working

We need to urgently shift our focus from the notion of jobs; and shift it to the concept of work... "The unemployment rate in South Africa is a crisis and should be declared a state of emergency," says Ronald Bownes, founding director of DreamWorker - a non-profit organisation. The recent Census places unemployment at 29.8% while some believe the expanded definition to be closer to 40%, writes *Chiara Baumann.

The current economic bedlam and unemployment increases occurring in some European countries is severely threatening state order, yet the disarray is far more recent and the outcry far more heard, despite unemployment being lower than that of South Africa. In South Africa, we are skirting the severity of the situation. Although the official feelings of South Africans are not necessarily those of a national state of emergency, we must not be deceived. Anyone who follows the news will be aware of pockets of incredibly violent protests across the country.

We ignore the warning signs at our peril

People are very unhappy. We should not ignore these warning signs. We need to urgently shift our focus from the notion of jobs; and shift it to the concept of work. Government continues to highlight the three key issues that need to be addressed, namely unemployment, poverty, and inequality. However, if we focused solely on the issue of unemployment the other two would, over time, start to right themselves. Other countries have done it, why can't we? Brazil is a shining case in point. Read the complete article.