Pretoria: Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, has called for the social and solidarity economy (SSE) to move beyond the margins of South Africa's economy and become a key vehicle for creating jobs, expanding ownership, and delivering more inclusive economic growth. Delivering the keynote address at the Catalyst Now South Africa Social and Solidarity Economy Symposium on Thursday, Letsike emphasized the need to build economic institutions that reflect the constitutional values of dignity, equality, freedom, and democratic participation in people's everyday lives.
According to South African Government News Agency, the symposium was held virtually under the theme 'Building Inclusive Economies Through the Social and Solidarity Economy,' and brought together representatives from various sectors including government, organized labor, business, academia, civil society, social enterprises, cooperatives, and community organizations. Letsike connected the development of an inclusive economy to South Africa's history of colonialism and apartheid, highlighting that the legacy of dispossession, extraction, migrant labor, and exclusion from productive assets continues to shape economic inequality.
She noted that while the country's constitutional democracy has made significant progress in dismantling discriminatory laws, expanding social protection, and improving access to public services, the constitutional project remains incomplete. Letsike emphasized that the persistence of unemployment, poverty, inequality, and spatial exclusion underscores the urgency of implementing constitutional values more effectively.
Letsike argued that the SSE can provide part of the institutional machinery needed to turn constitutional rights into economic realities. She described cooperatives, mutual organizations, associations, community enterprises, and qualifying social-purpose businesses as entities that engage in real economic activity while prioritizing collective benefit, social purpose, and democratic participation over unrestricted profit. However, she warned against allowing SSE to become synonymous with poverty or informal economic activity, and stressed that it should not be seen as a cheap outsourcing of public responsibilities or an excuse for poor governance or exploitation.
The Deputy Minister highlighted the urgent need for a stronger SSE sector in light of South Africa's employment challenges. She cited an economic growth rate of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2026, noting that this growth has not translated into the inclusion needed at a large scale. In the second quarter, 8.5 million South Africans were officially unemployed, with an unemployment rate of 33.6%. Youth unemployment had risen to 47.4%, while the unemployment rate for women was 37.5%, over seven percentage points higher than that for men.
Letsike stressed that the country could not expect young people to celebrate political freedom while nearly half of those seeking work remain unemployed. She called for stronger pathways linking education and skills to employment, enterprise development, ownership, and economic dignity. Government initiatives such as the Presidential Employment Stimulus and Social Employment Fund have created important entry points into the workforce, generating over 2.5 million work and livelihood opportunities, primarily for young people and women.
The next challenge, Letsike said, is to ensure that these temporary opportunities serve as bridges to accredited skills, permanent employment, cooperative ownership, community enterprises, and sustainable contracts. She identified the 'missing middle' as a significant hurdle for community enterprises and cooperatives, which includes challenges in accessing appropriate finance, markets, contracts, and institutional support. Letsike pointed out that women-led community enterprises, despite having demand and experience, often lack collateral, audited financial statements, or the capacity to compete for large tenders.
A recent assessment revealed 117 public MSME-financing mechanisms administered by 26 institutions, and Letsike argued that the challenge now is to simplify access, diversify financial instruments, and connect finance with capability and markets.