South Africa’s Unemployment Crisis

— Charles Russell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

According to the recently released quarterly labour force survey, South African unemployment stands at a staggering 33%. Using the expanded definition (i.e., including those who have abandoned their search for employment due to discouragement), the rate is 43%. Nearly 1 in every 2 people looking for a job cannot find one (for the 33% and the 43%).

Not only is this the worst rate in Africa, where the average unemployment is around 9%, but it is also the highest in the world, equal to eSwatini at 34.4% at Dec-24). South Africa is in a crisis.

Before the Christian is tempted to panic, as many of us are, God is still in control – even in this unemployment pandemic.

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Should a Husband Take His Wife’s Surname?

–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Mark it down as another win for feminism after South Africa’s highest courts recently ruled that a husband can legally take the surname of his wife, overturning a law that once barred them from doing so.

What has long been a common practice in Europe has now made its way to Africa, as the South African Constitutional Court decided that the previous law which only allowed male surnames in marriage, was a “colonial import” and did not promote gender equality. This came after both an Afrikaans and an English husband sued for not being allowed to take their respective wives’ surnames.

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A Husband’s Role in His Wife’s Physical Beauty

–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Beauty products make big money around the world. The beauty industry generates over $650 billion in revenue worldwide. In 2023, South Africa alone spent $6 billion on beauty products. South Korea leads the world in skin care products, spending $7 billion in 2023. Just the hair industry in South Africa is worth nearly R10 million, as weaves, wigs, and waves make big business in beauty salons and on social media. The cosmetics industry is taking off in countries like Ghana and Kenya, with Nigeria anticipated to be the rising star. 

Lest the reader questions how much men value beauty, in late 2024 King Mswati III (age 56) married the daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma. She was twenty-one, becoming his sixteenth wife. 

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Seven Ways A Husband Should Protect His Wife

–– Paul Schlehlein

Podcast edition: Youtube – Spotify – Apple Podcasts

One of the central roles to which God calls men is to protect women.

Husbands and fathers should protect their families spiritually. God told “the man” not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gn. 3:17) but he failed to protect his wife from the serpent who induced her to sin (Gn. 3:6). This is why the Adam was ultimately responsible for Eve’s sin (Rm. 5:20).

Husbands and fathers should their families physically and emotionally. Men should be willing to die for their wives, not the other way around. Christ laid down his life for his bride (Eph. 5:25), similar to how husbands should give up themselves for their wives.

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