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Productivity Sa Board Member Mr Godfrey Selematsela Welcome Speech At The Launch Of The 2026 World Competitivenessyearbook Wcy Occasion On 19 June 2026

Productivity SARef: https://productivitysa.co.za/2026/07/03/productivity-sa-board-member-mr-godfrey-selematsela-welcome-speech-at-the-launch-of-the-2026-world-competitivenessyearbook-wcy-occasion-on-19-june-2026/

Official source

Source domain: productivitysa.co.za

Collected on 13 July 2026

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Our copy (archived 20 July 2026)Official source

What this means

This document is a transcript of a welcome keynote speech by Productivity SA board member Mr Godfrey Selematsela at the launch of the 2026 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) on 19 June 2026. He frames the WCY release within South Africa’s Youth Month (culminating on 16 June 2026) and highlights youth employment and the country’s unemployment crisis, citing rates above 40% for ages 15–34 and an official unemployment rate of 32.7% after job losses in Q1 2026. He explains that Productivity SA releases the IMD WCY results to provide evidence for policy and business planning, and argues that improving productivity and competitiveness can support job creation and a more conducive environment for business.

Facts

Reference

https://productivitysa.co.za/2026/07/03/productivity-sa-board-member-mr-godfrey-selematsela-welcome-speech-at-the-launch-of-the-2026-world-competitivenessyearbook-wcy-occasion-on-19-june-2026/

Parties

Productivity SA board, This document is a transcript of a welcome keynote speech by Productivity SA board

Key Takeaways

Speaker: Productivity SA board member Mr Godfrey Selematsela
Event: Launch of the 2026 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY)
Date: 19 June 2026
Context: Youth Month in South Africa; National Youth Day on 16 June 2026
Youth unemployment: rates consistently exceeding 40% for ages 15–34
Unemployment crisis: official unemployment rate 32.7% after loss of 345,000 jobs in Q1 2026
Employment figures: employed people fell to 16.8 million; unemployed rose by 301,000 to 8.1 million (first three months of 2026)
WCY source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2026 results compiled in partnership with Productivity SA
Purpose stated: provide baseline on productivity and competitiveness to inform government policy and business plans
Productivity SA
Mr Godfrey Selematsela
Samantha Absol
Ms Lalane Janse Van Rensburg
Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour, Republic of South Africa
Honourable Judith Nemadzinga-Tshabalala
IMD World Competitiveness Centre
Dr José Caballero
Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC)
Mr Letsogile Batsetswe
National Productivity and Competitiveness Centre (NPCC) - Kenya
Mr Boniface Mi ano Kariuki
Ghana National Productivity Centre
Mr Benjamin Myers
Compensation Fund
Ms Dinao Lerutla
Acting CEO, Productivity SA
Ms Amelia Naidoo
Chief Economist, Productivity SA
Dr Lungelo Cele
Economic Statistician, Productivity SA

Dates

Closing Date

16 June 2026