– Limpopo’s official unemployment rate stands at 32.0%, while expanded unemployment remains at a devastating 46.7%.
– Stats SA has flagged Limpopo as one of the provinces where the gap between official and expanded unemployment exceeds 14 percentage points.
– The DA has a plan to help turn this around by fixing local government and building municipalities that enable investment, growth and jobs.
The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) confirms that Limpopo remains trapped in a serious jobs and opportunity crisis. Turning this around must include fixing the way our failing municipalities are governed and getting local government working again.
Official unemployment increased from 31.7% in the first quarter of 2026 to 32.0% in the second quarter, substantially higher than the 28.2% recorded in the final quarter of 2025.
More concerning is Limpopo’s expanded unemployment rate of 46.7%. Stats SA has specifically flagged Limpopo as one of the provinces where the gap between official and expanded unemployment exceeds 14 percentage points.
This means the headline unemployment rate does not tell the full story. When discouraged work-seekers and others who could work but are not actively searching are included, almost one in every two people in Limpopo’s extended labour force is without work.
The DA’s plan is to build municipalities that deliver reliable services, maintain infrastructure, manage public money properly and create an environment in which businesses can invest, grow, and create jobs.
The latest figures show why this is urgent. Limpopo created virtually no new employment during the quarter, while thousands more people joined the ranks of the unemployed.
These figures must also be viewed against significant outward migration from Limpopo. Stats SA migration data has identified the Limpopo-to-Gauteng route as one of South Africa’s largest internal migration streams, with employment a major reason why people move.
Too many Limpopo residents are leaving the province in search of opportunities they cannot find at home.
This should not be the reality of a province blessed with enormous agricultural potential, mineral wealth, tourism assets, and a strategic position as South Africa’s gateway to the north.
Municipalities cannot create every job, but they can either enable economic growth or stand in its way.
Businesses will struggle to invest and expand where water and electricity are unreliable, roads and other infrastructure deteriorate, municipal finances are mismanaged and bureaucracy makes it difficult to do business.
The DA’s 2026 Local Government Election Manifesto offers a different approach: professional municipalities staffed by competent people, reliable basic services, maintained infrastructure, sound financial management, less unnecessary red tape and local governments that actively enable investment and economic growth.
For Limpopo to create jobs, its municipalities must work.
Limpopo should be a province where people can build their future, not a province they have to leave to find one.