North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi has assured residents of the province that they are doing all they can to address the unemployment crisis. This as the North West overtakes the Eastern Cape in recording the highest unemployment figures in the country.

The provincial government has advertised 260 posts, but Mokgosi says this is simply not enough to even accommodate a portion of those faced with unemployment in the province.

“It does not reflect well. It’s really unfortunate that we are the highest province with unemployment in the country. This has been a looming crisis; it has been coming since 2015/2016. If you follow the economic scales, you will realize that it would’ve been eventually here where we are. But of course, we are a rural province. We are a province that does not have a lot of manufacturing activities, but a province purely in the mining sector.”

[HAPPENING NOW] Deputy President Paul Mashatile is in the North West Province today, 16 June 2025, to lead the Youth Day commemoration. Ntlantla Kgatlhane speaks to Premier Lazarus Mokgosi ahead of the event. pic.twitter.com/3W6jTY7apw

— SABC News (@SABCNews) June 16, 2025