How Oil and Gas Could Have Cut South Africa's Unemployment From 33% to 20%

Frans Cronje and Gabriel Makin discuss what South Africa's oil reserves could do for the economy.

6 min

South Africa is sitting on around 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent, mostly under the seabed. Frans Cronje walks Gabriel Makin through The Common Sense's three scenarios: leave it in the ground (growth stuck at 1%, unemployment over 30%), pump it out and export it (growth doubles to 2%), or use it as a catalyst for industry (growth of around 4%, settling above 3%, and unemployment down from 33% to about 20% over 20 years). They then discuss the Constitutional Court's Shell judgment, and Frans explains why it is a tragedy.

Related Videos

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

20.8.2026

Frans Cronje

6 hours ago

6 min

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

19.8.2026

Gabriel Makin

18 hours ago

5 min

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

17.8.2026

Frans Cronje

2 days ago

9 min

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

17.8.2026

The Common Sense

3 days ago

4 min

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

13.8.2026

Gabriel Makin

7 days ago

8 min

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

12.8.2026

Frans Cronje

8 days ago

8 min

Video

THE COMMON SENSE

-

9.8.2026

Frans Cronje

10 days ago

11 min

WE MAKE SOUTH AFRICA MAKE SENSE.

HOME

OPINIONS

POLITICS

POLLS

GLOBAL

ECONOMICS

LIFE

SPORT

InstagramLinkedInXFacebook