Articles
South Africa: Fix the labour laws or face a revolution
It has a very easy route to very fast progress – burn the edifice of labour laws keeping people out of work.
2 September 2025
It has a very easy route to very fast progress – burn the edifice of labour laws keeping people out of work.
Could the DA finally lead a Jo’burg coalition of pro-market values? Or might it fall agonisingly short yet again?
One should not be dismissive of new entrants as ‘rats and mice’. Each new voice represents participation in the political process and an observer-eye on each election.
The fact remains that the party has been outmanoeuvred at every turn.
The DA and its pro-market allies can creatively break the NDR, repivot the needle and gain political capital.
Such sidestepping communities give flashes of what SA could be with willing investors, entrepreneurs, space and a favourable climate.
To paraphrase Jan Smuts, SA may yet again be the land where neither the best nor the worst happens.
The country’s two largest parties can reach win-win arrangements. And the biggest beneficiaries of all would be those who elected them.
If, 18 months from now, the DA realises it is not possible to affect change, it should remove itself from the agreement, and assume a looser confidence and supply arrangement in opposition.