The North West Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi has announced that his office in collaboration with Phila Jordan Academy has started with Phase 1 of the process to recruit one thousand young people into their artisanal programme, on Thursday, 24 July 2025.The province has the highest unemployment in the country. The expanded unemployment rate stands at 56%, with the official unemployment rate at 40,4%.While tabling the 2025/26 Budget Vote and Policy Speech for Office of the Premier at the North West Provincial Legislature, Mokgosi shared his office’s efforts to respond to the growing concerns about the province’s high unemployment rate, initiatives to bolster service delivery, and plans to strengthen good governance.
“This programme will formally be launched on 31 August 2025 inKlerksdorp.”
Hon Speaker, the Office of the Premier is also facilitating and steering the Labour Activation Programme in the Province, that is spearheaded by Department of Employment and Labour. The programme is targeting 27 000 youth in different trades of artisanal programmes,” said Mokgosi.
He indicated to date, the appointed service providers by the Department of Employment and Labour have completed their recruitment in different districts across the province.
“They have also started with skills training and development at different levels of implementation of the programme. Last month we successfully launched a ground breaking three thousand hectares dry beans farming initiative in Manthe village in the Greater Taung Local Municipality.”
The project is expected to benefit two thousand young people and have an annual turnover of over fifty-seven million rand once implemented at its full capacity.
“Since the launch of the youth portal various opportunities ranging from training and skills development, employment opportunities and entrepreneurship services were shared with young people.”
We are in the process to improve the contents, marketing and maintenance of the portal so that we meet our young people’s expectations,” Mokgosi said.
The province’s economy is heavily reliant on mining, particularly platinum, gold, and diamonds. While mining contributes significantly to the provincial GDP and employment, the province also has a notable manufacturing sector, primarily focused on food and beverages, and a substantial agricultural sector.
Mokgosi has faced criticism of the unbearable rates of youth unemployment in the province. He admitted that a lot of people are economically inactive and the province has a low labour absorption rate afflicting largely the youth.
Last month, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Caucus leader in the North West Provincial Legislature, Freddy Sonakile questioned the provincial government’s strategy on unemployment during a motion on the unemployment crisis.
“I rise today with a heavy heart, but also with fire in my bones, because this is not just a political motion. This is a cry for help. A cry from thousands of people across the North West who wake up every morning to a province that has forgotten them. A government that has abandoned them. A system that is broken.”
Let us be absolutely clear: we are not debating numbers. We are debating lives,” said Sonakile.
Sonakile said it is a cruel paradox that one of South Africa’s most mineral-rich provinces, the North West, leads with the highest levels of unemployment.
While the government in the province only employs 6% of all working people with 94% employed in the private sector, Mokgosi said the government cannot reduce youth unemployment without the role and contribution of the private sector.”We have established a Development Fund set at one hundred rand million as a seed fund to co-fund social and developmental initiatives aimed at addressing unemployment and infrastructure backlogs in the province.
“Mokgosi applauded Harmony Gold for another investment initiative of one-point five billion rand at their operations in Stilfontein in the City of Matlosana Local Municipality.
This is expected to preserve and create over six thousand jobs through their diversification strategy which includes renewable energy.
“Equally, the Impala West Limb Operations through their staff retention strategy has managed to save over one thousand five hundred jobs.”
