The latest youth unemployment statistics indicate that the persistently high youth unemployment rate in the Free State has now escalated to 69.4% for youths in the 15 to 24 age group and to 45.4% for young people in the 25-to-34-year age group.
These statistics are according to the StatsSA Quarterly Labour Force Survey, and this bleak reality is a reflection of a collapsing provincial administration, systemic financial mismanagement, and local governments in free fall.
According to Werner Pretorious, DA member of the committee on Economic Development in the Free State Legislature, young people in the Free State are trapped in a cycle of hopelessness and exclusion, with little access to opportunities, training, or meaningful work.
This is the direct consequence of years of poor governance, unchecked corruption, and a refusal to prioritise economic growth and skills development.The Free State Provincial Government (FSPG) recorded nearly R1.5 billion in irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure in the 2023/24 financial year alone.
This is money that could and should have been spent on job-creating infrastructure projects, youth training programmes, free public Wi-Fi, and student accommodation.
calls on the FSPG to take immediate and measurable steps to cut waste, conclude investigations into financial mismanagement, and enforce consequence management.
Every cent must be directed towards projects that benefit residents, especially the youth.”In addition to financial reform, the province cannot succeed while its municipalities continue to collapse. The Free State has not had a single clean municipal audit in nine consecutive years. Local governments like Mangaung and Matjhabeng are in crisis.
Youth unemployment will not be addressed as long as municipalities fail to deliver basic services and support local economic activity. Our track record in governance is clear. The Western Cape, where the DA governs, consistently reports the lowest unemployment rate in the country — proof that clean governance, sound financial management, and local government functionality create jobs,” he says.
