ЮАР должна пересмотреть экономическую политику и расширить создание рабочих мест за пределы крупных городов

The employment paradox: rethinking work beyond urban centres - Avela Njwambe The concentration jobs in major urban centres in South Africa, sustained through the ongoing rural–urban migration, carries a deep and often invisible human cost. High levels of unemployment, at 33,6% disproportionately affect rural areas, with the Eastern Cape recording a striking 47, 5% in the latest August 2026 Quarterly Labour Force Survey. This persistent lack of economic opportunities counties to force rural dwellers to migrate to major urban centres where employment continues to be concentrated. The persisting rural poverty and spatial inequality is not accidental in post-apartheid South Africa, it is deeply structural and rooted in a deliberate apartheid racial capitalist system. The apartheid system dispossessed the black majority much of their land and entrench a migrant system designed to control the supply of cheap black labour to mines and its industrial expansion, while leaving economies of the former “reserves” underdeveloped. A recent op-ed similarly highlights the structural economic challenges facing former homelands such as the Eastern Cape, arguing that the former Transkei and Ciskei were developed as peripheral labour reserves, characterised by weak industrial bases and limited economic opportunities. Although South Africa has undergone a profound political transformation, much of this underlying economic geography remains intact. In a recent paper, I argue that while urban centres are central for accessing wage labour and sustaining livelihoods for majority of rural population, the continued rural-urban migration trends ignore important aspects that sustain the fullness of human life. I frame this more expansive understanding of a quality of life through the concept of Impilo/Ukuphila: a holistic notion of life that foregrounds immaterial forms of value – such as belonging, identity, collective care, attachments to land and ancestors, as well as restorative and cultural affirmations. Yet, the spatial economic inequalities that characterise the rural–urban divide have increasingly reduced the lives of internal migrants to their capacity to participate in labour markets and secure economic survival, often obscuring these broader dimensions of wellbeing. As a result, the necessity of securing employment has compelled many rural dwellers to live disembodied and spatially fragmented from their rural homes places where they have embodied experiences of Zokuphila/Zempilo. These are not insignificant aspects of life but are foundational components of their wellbeing. However, the labour migration system, embedded in dominant capitalist frameworks continues to sideline these realities. The spatial inequality of the South African economy fractures lives in pursuit of prosperity centred only around wages. This is not only a South African concern, as there is global recognition that prevailing capitalist models of prosperity are insufficient. Calls emerging from the 2022 G7 in Germany, for instance, urged a shift towards a multidimensional metrics of prosperity that align with collectively held values and societal goals, acknowledging that human flourishing cannot be reduced to aggregate indicators of productivity and expenditure. Similarly, researchers from the Stockholm Environment Institute have called on global leaders to redefine prosperity for economies and individuals in ways that prioritize cohesive societies and a thriving planet. Their work recognises that beyond income, people also value social relationships, good health, civic engagement and quality of life. This shift is also gaining traction among high-level global policy institutions, particularly through the UN-led “Beyond GDP” initiative, backed by the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, which acknowledges the imbalance of privileging economic growth over social and environmental wellbeing. As such they recognise the need to build an economic system that gives value to what really counts. It is time to rethink the South African economy that concentrates employment in major urban centres, as it reduces Impilo (life- in its holistic sense) only to productivity and material gain, treating the things we value most as secondary. Cities themselves are struggling to accommodate the growing population caused by rural-urban migration, as metros particularly in Gauteng are struggling to keep up with rapid urbanisation. Today, approximately four in ten South Africans live in metropolitan areas, with eight metros having absorbed half of the country’s population growth over the past three decades. This rapid population growth has intensified pressures on infrastructure and service delivery pressures. Furthermore, new migrant arrivals are often forced to settle on the outskirts of cities and end up incurring exceptionally high transport costs. This reduces their disposable incomes, making city life itself increasingly unsustainable. At the same time, the concentration of people and employment in metropolitan areas have not necessarily translated into broad-based economic prosperity, and the employment growth that has occurred has not been evenly distributed across the country. Consequently, the concentration of economic opportunities in urban centres has done little to transform the spatial inequalities that continue to shape South Africa’s economy. If South Africa is to grow its economy and address persistently high levels of chronic unemployment, stronger coordination across provinces is needed. Economic policy must move beyond major urban centres and intentionally integrate small towns, particularly those in the former “reserves”, into job creation strategies. Each province should contribute to national economic activity in line with its specific specialisations.