President Cyril Ramaphosa has sparked anger among social media users after he warned of massive job losses in South Africa.
The president made the warning while delivering the closing remarks at the 25 Years of Democracy Conference hosted by the Presidency and the Mapungubwe Institute of Strategic Reflection on Tuesday in Pretoria.
Through artificial intelligence, through digital economy, through technology, the world of work is shrinking.
So we’re going to see a haemorrhaging, not only in our country but throughout the world, on employment. Many more people are going to lose jobs.
President Cyril Ramaphosa
However, Ramaphosa added that more jobs will be created through skilling and re-skilling of workers to meet the demands of the 4th industrial revolution.
He said even artificial intelligence and the response to climate change will create more jobs for South Africans.
Social media reacts
However, this reassurance was seemingly not enough to assuage the fears of South Africans on social media.
Some asked what happened to Ramaphosa’s promise of 200,000 jobs a year.
Your president took to the podium this shocker of a Revelation, despite the fact that he promised 200k jobs/year.
Really guys we have to take the revolution into our own hands this guy won’t help the youth. This is hard hitting from Ramakhupula.
Twitter user @bonganimnisi1
Former Eskom executive Matshela Koko, who is an outspoken critic of Ramaphosa, simply said, “It is simply not working. Ramaphoria is gone.”
Another commenter, Khandani Msibi, said Ramaphosa “has no clue” about creating jobs.