To rejuvenate the economy for more employment to be created, government must secure a conducive environment for the private sector to do its work, which is to create jobs.For a significant period, the real growth rate in South Africa has been lower than the population growth rate, which means that the quantity of goods and services produced per person is decreasing.
We should compare ourselves with a person or family who are neck deep in debt: how does someone like that get out of trouble? The solution is not to borrow more money, because that will only make the problem worse. The person/family should tighten their belt and spend less than what they earn until the situation improves enough. SA has become used to an annual fiscal deficit: we spend more money than what we earn, and the trend is not changing.
The obvious question is"how?" There are two sides to this coin: we should produce more and therefore earn more so that we can increase government revenue, or we should spend less, or both. Producing more is the ideal solution, because it would also mean that we employ more people who could contribute towards the country's revenue in two ways: they buy goods and services and help to stimulate the economy; they also become less dependent on state grants. This is a double whammy: revenue increases and at the same time expenditures decrease.