Unemployment rate during each president's tenure

Every president since 1991, ranked by how the unemployment rate changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

#	President	In office	Total	Per year	Chart
1	Cyril Ramaphosa	15 Feb 2018 – now	+6.9 pp Q4 2017 → Q2 2026	+0.8 pp/yr
2	Jacob Zuma	9 May 2009 – 15 Feb 2018	+3.7 pp Q1 2009 → Q4 2017	+0.4 pp/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last quarter complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that period had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in pp; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. % of labour force, aged 15-64 · Statistics South Africa, Quarterly Labour Force Survey (P0211, trends workbook, Table 2.3), people aged 15-64, the official definition, not seasonally adjusted, from 2008 · South Africa data · as of Oct 2026.