-There is an unemployment crisis in the City of Ekurhuleni
-DA Ekurhuleni Mayoral Candidate reveals plan to create jobs in Ekurhuleni
-This includes a strategy to attract investment and stimulate economic growth
650,000 people.
That is how many people in Ekurhuleni were unemployed in the second quarter of this year. 650,000 people looking for work, an income, hope.
Mothers who cannot put food on the table. Fathers struggling to provide for their families. Young people who wake up every morning with nowhere to go because they cannot find work.
And while hundreds of thousands of our residents desperately need jobs, the ANC-led coalition running Ekurhuleni is failing to protect the businesses that provide jobs.
How can we create new jobs when government cannot even protect the jobs we already have?
Democrats,
Earlier this year, something devastating happened in Springs.
Mpact, a major packaging manufacturer, shut down one of its production lines after beginning a retrenchment process affecting 377 employees.
Its CEO revealed that over five years, the factory had lost 180 days of production because of unreliable electricity and water supply in Ekurhuleni.
Imagine that! That’s the equivalent of six months of lost production because the municipality cannot provide basic services.
And in Meadowdale last year, businesses went more than eight days without electricity.
Some were forced to close temporarily and send their workers home.
No work. No pay.
Imagine being told to go home without an income because your municipality cannot keep the lights on.
One business reportedly spent R60,000 on generator fuel in just eight days.
That is money that could have been spent growing the business and supporting jobs.
In Edenvale, we have Steelcore. The manufacturing company has operated since 1970, but erosion along the Eastleigh Spruit is damaging its property.
Steelcore has already spent R40,000 assessing the damage and received a rehabilitation quotation of R665,000.
It first approached the City in 2024 and was reportedly told this year that rehabilitation designs were 95% complete.
Yet the work had still not been done!
How can we expect businesses to expand and employ more people when they are forced to spend their own money dealing with government failures?
Ekurhuleni should be South Africa’s industrial powerhouse.
We have the factories, the skills, the airport, the industrial areas and the people.
But failing electricity, water, roads and stormwater infrastructure are making it harder for businesses to operate, invest and create jobs.
Government cannot promise to create jobs while its own failures are destroying opportunities.
That is why I am here today.
Not simply to expose another failure, but to offer a solution.
Today, I am launching the DA’s Jobs and Business Protection Initiative.
My first responsibility as Mayor will be to protect the jobs we already have, keep businesses operating, and create the conditions for them to grow and employ more people.
Our plan has three commitments:
- 100-Day Business Infrastructure Audit
Within my first 100 days as Mayor, we will conduct a Business Infrastructure Audit to identify failing electricity, water, sewerage, roads, and stormwater infrastructure threatening businesses and jobs.
We will publish the priority problems and a clear intervention plan.
- Jobs-at-Risk Hotline
We will establish a dedicated Jobs-at-Risk Hotline.
No more being sent from one municipal department to another for months or years.
Businesses will be able to report municipal failures threatening their operations, with urgent intervention where jobs, investment or business survival are at risk.
- Industrial Infrastructure Rescue Plan
We will implement an Industrial Infrastructure Rescue Plan.
We will prioritise infrastructure repairs and investment in Ekurhuleni’s major industrial and employment areas.
In line with the DA’s manifesto, we will reinvest water and electricity revenue into infrastructure, cut red tape and make it easier for businesses to grow. We will fix the infrastructure that keeps people working!
The ANC-led coalition has allowed businesses to fight municipal failures for years while unemployment continues to kill our communities. They have allowed businesses to close down because every business is forced to pay the price for municipal failures. Businesses should spend money running their businesses, not paying more to do work on behalf of the municipality.
No business should have to pay more to fix a municipal road, no business should be hiring a private army of security while billions are pumped into the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department, and no business should be spending more to keep the lights on when the City fails to keep electricity on.
I am offering Ekurhuleni a different kind of leadership.
A Mayor who understands that protecting businesses means protecting jobs and families.
Today, I want every business owner, worker, and resident to remember our Jobs Protection Pledge:
● I will audit infrastructure failures threatening businesses and jobs within my first 100 days
● I will establish a Jobs-at-Risk Hotline for urgent municipal intervention
● I will prioritise infrastructure repairs in our major industrial and employment areas
We will identify the problem, respond with urgency, and fix what is broken.
That is my pledge to the people of Ekurhuleni.
I invite the business owners here today to join me in signing this commitment.
Because we cannot create the jobs of tomorrow if we fail to protect the jobs of today.
We must protect jobs, keep businesses working, and get Ekurhuleni working for all!