BREAKING NEWS: ‘You won’t solve unemployment by blaming immigrants’: Mbeki blames Zuma and Ramaphosa for economic decline

PRETORIA — Former President Thabo Mbeki has said South Africa’s economic crisis is not caused by foreign nationals, and placed responsibility for rising unemployment on policy choices made under his successors Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.

Speaking at a public event at Unisa’s Muckleneuk Campus in Pretoria, Mbeki said “you will never ever convince me that this economy is in crisis because of foreigners. It’s not true”. He argued that blaming immigrants distracts from deeper structural problems, including deindustrialisation and investment decisions.

Mbeki pointed to a slowdown in economic growth and job creation from 2010 onwards, which coincided with a change in presidency. Citing analysis from the Stellenbosch University Bureau for Economic Research, he said the country had lost an estimated R4.5 trillion in potential GDP and at least 6 million jobs over the last 15 years due to mismanagement and corruption. 

“At the same time the country has got a loss about migration of people. Let’s enforce laws. You just come here illegally… But I am saying it is incorrect to think that the economic crisis is caused by people who came from the rest of the world”. Under Mbeki’s presidency from 1999 to 2008, South Africa recorded relatively high growth and created about 500,000 net new jobs per year, according to economic analyst Dawie Roodt. Job creation slowed to around 250,000 per year under Zuma, and to just over 100,000 per year under Ramaphosa. 

Mbeki’s remarks align with earlier comments he made in 2024, where he said the country’s problems stem from policy and investment choices rather than migration. He has previously called for a long-term solution to migration, including a pathway to citizenship for long-term residents.  President Ramaphosa has acknowledged that undocumented migration places strain on services and labour markets, but has also said violent protests against foreign nationals do not represent government policy. 

South Africa’s expanded unemployment rate stood at 46% in recent data, with total unemployment at 32.6%. Mbeki said skyrocketing unemployment is one of the key factors driving the economic crisis.