Please find attached soundbites in English by Freddy Sonakile, MPL, in Setswana by Ratang Molao, DA candidate in Moretele Local Municipality, and in Afrikaans by Bertus le Roux, DA candidate in JB Marks Local Municipality.
- North West unemployment has reached 38.1%.
- Expanded unemployment highest in South Africa.
- Only 30.6% of working-age people work.
The latest Statistics South Africa figures confirm that North West’s unemployment crisis is no longer a disastrous quarter. It is a pattern of failure.
The province’s official unemployment rate has jumped from 35.3% to 38.1% in just three months, well above the national rate of 33.6%.
But the most devastating figure is 56.0%.
That is North West’s combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force — the highest in South Africa.
And this is not new.
A year ago it stood at 54.7%. Last quarter it was 54.8%. Now it is 56.0%.
The crisis is getting worse.
Only 30.6% of working-age people in North West are employed.
Put simply: only about three out of every ten working-age people in this province have jobs.
After years of economic recovery plans, investment conferences, job summits, strategies and promises, the Provincial Government must answer one simple question:
Where are the jobs?
North West has mining, agriculture, tourism, strategic transport routes and enormous entrepreneurial potential. Yet the province continues to struggle to turn these advantages into enough employment.
Part of the problem is visible in our municipalities.
Businesses cannot thrive where roads are collapsing, water and electricity are unreliable, basic services fail and municipal administrations struggle to perform their most basic functions.
Municipalities should be engines of local economic development. Too many in North West have instead become obstacles to it.
But ultimately, government must be judged on results.
38.1% official unemployment.
56.0% broader labour underutilisation.
30.6% employment absorption.
Those are not opposition statistics. They are the numbers from Statistics South Africa.
And they tell a story that no government press release can spin away.
In the coming local government elections on 4 November 2026, residents will have the opportunity to change the direction of their communities.
If people want jobs, they need municipalities that work. They need to vote for the DA to get North West municipalities working again.
DA-led municipalities prioritise the basics that make economic growth possible: maintaining roads, delivering reliable water and electricity, ensuring proper sanitation and refuse collection, maintaining and expanding infrastructure, and creating an environment that attracts investment and supports businesses that create jobs.
Voting DA on 4 November is not just about getting municipalities working. It is about creating the conditions for investment, economic growth and more job opportunities for the people of North West.
North West does not need another jobs summit or another glossy economic strategy.
It needs municipalities that work, an economy that grows and a government that understands that the real measure of an economic plan is whether people can find work.
The choice is clear: if you want working municipalities and an economy that creates jobs, vote DA on 4 November.