Cape Town has been named the top beach destination in the annual World Travel Awards. The document discusses the growth of South Africa's economy and middle class since the end of apartheid, noting increasing education, wealth, and democratic values. It also outlines both the positives of South Africa becoming part of the BRICS alliance and the ongoing challenges the country faces, such as unemployment and a lack of skills holding back job creation. The speaker calls on business to do more to create jobs through internships and training programs in order to address South Africa's unemployment crisis.

1. Mohamed Cassoojee

2. Annual World Travel Awards
Cape Town named top beach destination
Tuesday, 02 October 2012

3. Growing the Middle Class
“…a better-educated and wealthier
electorate is generally less prone to
political manipulation and more vigilant
about public finance”
“Over time, the values of the middle
Classes in emerging countries become
more like those of the publics of
developed nations.”
Honest Elections
Free Speech
Moral & Good Values
Going Green
Stability
Freedom of Press
Freedom of Religion
* Pew Research Centre 2009

4. From BRIC to BRICS
 Brazil, Russia, India, China and now, South Africa
 IMF – BRICS will account for 36% of Growth in next 3 years
 South Africa seeen as the gateway to 1 Billion people in Africa

5. Positives
 25th Largest Economy in the worlds compared to 35th in
2002
 Inflation close to 5% compared to 14% in 1994
 Interest rates at 8.5% vs the 16% we seen over a
decade ago
 Budget deficit at 5.5% - 4.5%
 25% of goods produces are for export – up 10%
 Young Population

6. The Challenges
 The economy is not growing fast enough
 “Jobless Economic Growth”
 Lack of skills, particularly IT, is holding back job creation
 Over 40% living below the breadline
 Out of nearly 50 million people in South Africa, only about 13,1
million are employed
 Only 40% of people of working age are in a job
 Graduate unemployment in South Africa doubles …… despite a
worsening skills shortage*
 Graduates have the qualifications but not always the practical skills
and experience
*Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) i- Cape Town’s school of Economics

7. From Teenager To Adult
 The system is not working
 Our democracy is 18 years old
 SA is still progressing with peaceful change
 Transition is a process that does not require upheaval
 5 million people have never seen a payslip
 We do not live in a normal society

8. The Job Creation Imperative
 Government alone cannot solve this problem
 Business needs to take a different view
 Jobs do not get created by government
 We cannot afford to sit on the fence
 Business must put its hand up
 Stop moving Jobs Overseas
 Help our Interns and Learners to get experience

9. Government Has Made This Easy
 R 5bn rand in National Skills Fund
 R 9bn rand in the Job Fund
 Easy to access, some admin
 ICT industry MICT Seta pays 50% of the cost of Interns
 R 2500 per month for a university graduate
 R 1500 per month for a learner
 Business is just lazy

10. Job Creation Function
 To engage with our customers, government and technology partners
around job creation
 The promotion of Internship and Training Programmes
 Repatriation of jobs offshored to other countries and the creation of
jobs by offshoring services to other countries.
 Working with Government to mobilise business to take advantage of
Government incentive schemes for job creation
 Business to invest more in SA which will result in job creation. (JSE
listed companies have R600 Billion in cash...).
 Objective for the next 3 years, to bring 10 000 offshored jobs back to
SA
 Create 20 000 internships
 Create 30 000 learnerships

11. Thank you