Please find attached a soundbite by Edwin Macrae Bath MP.
While the latest Q2 Quarterly Labour Force Survey from StatsSA has shown an overall increase in the number of unemployed South Africans, in the construction sector there has been some good news: the latest data shows that the construction sector has added 20 000 jobs between April and July 2025, and 55 000 jobs over the past year – a 4.6% increase.
Through the Expanded Public Works Programme, the Department has moved from handouts to pathways with a full reform of the recruitment process now underway. This recruitment process means that over 1 million work opportunities have been targeted. Minister Macpherson is cleaning out the rot inherited from the Department by fighting organised crime – taking on the “construction mafia” who held projects ransom for personal gain.
Minister Macpherson’s Department is yielding the results of a focus on jobs, lower living costs, and ethical governance.
Ethical leadership continues to be prioritised through audits, digital upgrades and advisory boards.
The growth in construction jobs reflects the excellent work of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure under Minister Dean Macpherson’s leadership, which is helping to unlock projects, boost investor confidence, and get South Africa building again.
This week the DA tabled a fundamental set of 6 demands to grow the economy and create jobs, called the plan to “turbocharge economic growth”, and if the ANC roadblocks are removed this plan will be a further boost to construction jobs.
The DA’s plan is immediately implementable, and will grow South Africa’s economy and ensure that every South African has access to the dignity of a job.
The reported growth in construction jobs demonstrates that the DA in National Government is already delivering on our key objectives of growing the economy and creating jobs. This is a step in the right direction.
The GNU must now accelerate this trajectory to make lasting change for the people of South Africa. The time for dialogue is over.