ActionSA MP Alan Beesley has accused the Government of National Unity (GNU) of betraying South Africans struggling to find employment, after new figures showed GDP grew just 0.8% in the second quarter of 2025. “Economic growth has remained below 1% since the formation of the GNU, with today’s results confirming a meagre 0.8% growth for the second quarter of 2025,” he warned, calling the numbers “a damning indictment of a government unwilling or unable to work together”.

Beesley argued that policy failures are driving a manufacturing jobs crisis. ArcelorMittal is in the process of closing down its Long Steel division in Newcastle and Vereeniging, placing 3 500 jobs at risk and potentially threatening more than 100 000 downstream posts. In the automotive sector, nearly 500 Ford employees in Pretoria and Gqeberha face retrenchment, while Goodyear’s planned closure of its 78-year-old Kariega tyre plant will cut about 900 jobs. Twelve vehicle-sector shutdowns over two years have already eliminated more than 4 000 positions.

High electricity prices, chronic loadshedding, clogged ports, and failing rail lines “are strangling South African industries,” Beesley said, adding that illicit trade is booming as the formal economy stalls. He claimed that the illicit market for alcohol has risen roughly 55% since 2017 and that illegal tobacco products now hold about 60% of the market share, costing the fiscus an estimated R34.5 billion a year in lost sin tax revenue.

With National Treasury’s 2025 growth forecast revised down from 1.9% in February to 0.6% today, ActionSA has urged the GNU to “fix the economy with pragmatic solutions” so citizens can regain “the dignity of earning a living”.