Jobs. Equality. Solutions. News24’s On the Record summit happening in Cape Town in March will deliver practical answers to SA’s biggest challenges. Get to know some of the panellists ahead of the summit.

South Africa has the world’s largest unemployment crisis.

This has led to social instability, political radicalisation and criminality.

Part of the issue is that our economy is barely growing, and it is not sufficiently labour intensive.

If the country is going to thrive, it needs to create five million new formal-sector jobs over the next 10 years.

Is this possible? 

From 19 to 20 March, News24 is holding its On the Record summit in Cape Town, which will examine ways to create more jobs and build a better, healthier and more equal society.

News24 has lined up a selection of international and local speakers to share practical solutions to South Africa’s unemployment problem.

The masters of ceremonies are household names Devi Sankaree Govender and Bruce Whitfield.

Known for their direct approach and no-holds-barred style, the pair never leave their subjects off the hook.

Get to know more about Devi and Bruce here. 

Another household name is former finance minister Trevor Manuel. He plans to get to the chase at the summit and detail exactly why the country finds itself in its current position. You can read what Manuel hopes to achieve at the summit here.

A revolution 

Ground Work Collective’s Mbali Ntuli is also a panellist. Her collective, which she founded in 2022 after leaving the DA, is all about getting communities actively involved in an inclusive democracy.

“I’m trying to revolutionise people into actually knowing that they can get off their butts and be civically active.”

Read more about what Ntuli’s views on civil engagement here. 

The CEO of Youth Employment Services, Ravi Naidoo, says South Africa is good at churning out certificates but not so good at ensuring there is a job at the end of those certificates. You can read more about what Naidoo plans to discuss at the summit here.

‘Reduce tax’

Among News24’s international guests is rockstar economist David McWilliams who hails from Ireland. His view on job creation will be music to South African companies’ ears.

“You need to dramatically reduce corporation tax for companies to allow capital to flow into South Africa, and avail of the labour that is there, sitting, waiting to be deployed,” he tells News24.

Read more about what he is likely to say at the News24 On the Record summit in March here.

Former gold-mining executive, Neal Froneman is of the view the solution to more jobs is a change in policy. “South Africa needs to move on from racially based legislation to legislation that is competitive and less bureaucratic,” he says.

You can read more on his views here.

It’s not just business and labour experts who form part of the summit’s panels. Renowned architect Gita Goven will also join. She thinks building new and smarter cities plays a role in job creation. Read what Goven plans to discuss at the summit here. 

Another panellist is Standard Bank’s political economist Simon Freemantle.

He says we need to guard against complaceny.

“We cannot afford to be complacent now that we don’t have load shedding, that the Transnet recovery story is gaining traction, that the GNU seems to have come through last year’s stress-tested tests, and looks likely to hold.”

You can read what his plan for economic growth is here.

Dr Keyu Jin, who teaches in London while conducting research in China, will be delivering the first keynote on day one of the summit. In her address she is going to expand on her idea of the Mayor Economy, where mayors were the real entrepreneurs in China. They experimented, hustled for investment, built infrastructure, and tried to prove their model works. You can read more on Dr Jin and her theory here.

Find out more about the On the Record summit here. If you are interested in attending the On the Record summit in-person, please contact us here.