Ngobese-Zuma claims 34,000 new jobs created after foreigners removed, criticises unemployment rate celebrations
Activist Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has defended claims of job creation in South Africa, saying 34,000 new positions were filled in three months in sectors previously dominated by foreigners who had been removed, and criticised those celebrating a rise in the national unemployment rate.
In a lengthy post on X, Ngobese-Zuma said she had been out of the country and her account had mostly not been managed by her.
She accused critics of failing to properly read statistics and of rushing to highlight the overall unemployment figure while ignoring sector-specific gains.
“Firstly if you Read the stats you will realize that in the sectors that we have been saying are flooded with foreigners and they have been removed daily, 34 000 new jobs have been created in the space of just 3 months!!! So 34 000 families now have an income, why are you ignoring that part and rushing to highlight the general figure!?” she wrote.
She argued that an increase in the unemployment rate does not always mean jobs have been lost.
“Secondly an increase in unemployment doesn’t always necessarily mean jobs are LOST it also could be a result of more people now actually looking for jobs than before!! So in your head please process the fact that an increased unemployment rate doesn’t mean an increased number of jobs lost! In this case it’s an increase in the number of people looking for jobs than before.”
Ngobese-Zuma condemned South Africans who celebrated higher unemployment figures for political reasons. “Lastly I’ve never seen so many idiots who celebrate that their own country has an increased unemployment rate! Foreigners can celebrate that kind of nonsense because we know they are sitting there just waiting for us to fail but as a South African how stupid must you be to celebrate an increased unemployment rate in your own country just because you get a satisfactory feeling that makes you feed into your own delusion or you feel it helps your political party look better ??? Sies maan aninamahloni yazi.”
She ended by congratulating those who had started new jobs and urged them to respect their positions and help improve the country.
Her comments come amid the release of Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which showed the official unemployment rate rising to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026.