One of the key objectives of the national artificial intelligence (AI) policy is to ensure the preservation of jobs and cushion the impact of job displacement across South Africa’s labour market.
This came to light at ITWeb’s AI Summit 2026 yesterday, where Mlindi Mashologu, deputy director-general for ICT Information Society and Capacity Development at the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) delivered a keynote address.
Speaking under the theme: “What the national AI policy framework means for business”, Mashologu pointed out that SA’s draft AI policy framework places job preservation at the centre of its priorities. It’s making a deliberate effort to effectively manage the impact of AI on the labour market instead of leaving its ramifications to market forces.
This effort is underpinned by a multi-sector approach, stipulated in the draft policy under the six interlocking pillars of the national AI policy, he noted.
“The ‘capacity and talent development’ pillar is really about ensuring AI does not replace jobs. It seeks to identify the areas that will be impacted by AI and introduce reskilling programmes across those areas so that we don’t simply see people losing jobs,” explained Mashologu.
“We understand that some job displacement will happen, but the key question is how to put measures in place − such as training opportunities and support mechanisms − so that when people do lose jobs, they can be absorbed into other roles.”
The “capacity and talent” pillar is one of six outlined in the AI policy to ensure AI serves broader societal and economic priorities by providing guidelines for mitigating the effects of displacement across SA’s employment landscape.
It proposes the establishment and expansion of targeted skills development initiatives to broaden the talent pipeline from foundational digital literacy, to advanced AI expertise, while strengthening research capabilities to ensure technological advancement is matched with adequate skills development and economic impact.
“Building a skills pipeline is going to be a multi-sector approach. As the government, we’re trying to work with other government departments and the private sector to build and expand skills development initiatives,” Mashologu added.
“When you look at capacity building, especially at the foundational level, we have to work with basic education. When you move to higher education, we will work with educational institutions through the Department of Higher Education and Training. And when it comes to conducting research, we work with institutions like the CSIR.”
The six pillars anchoring the AI policy:
- Capacity and talent development.
- AI for inclusive growth and job creation.
- Responsible governance.
- Ethical and inclusive AI.
- Cultural preservation and international integration.
- Human-centred deployment.
Together, these pillars present a cohesive vision for AI development in SA, balancing innovation with inclusion, and technological progress with ethical and cultural considerations, he pointed out.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 finds that 92 million existing jobs are expected to be displaced globally due to automation and changing work dynamics.
According to figures from Layoffs.fyi, since the start of the year, tech companies have announced 92 272 job cuts worldwide, with the largest cuts at Amazon, Ericsson, Meta and fintech group Block.
Policy flaws uncovered
Earlier this month, Cabinet approved the publication of the Draft South Africa AI Policy for public comment, with the policy likely to be implemented in the 2027/28 financial year.
On 10 April, the draft policy was published, formally opening a 60-day public consultation period, with written input invitedby10 June.
According to Cabinet, the policy aims to strengthen government's ability to regulate and adopt AI responsibly, while encouraging local innovation, supporting job creation and improving access to AI skills.
The DCDT has indicated it seeks development outcomes, such as improved public service delivery, expanded digital economic participation and enhanced quality of life for citizens.
However, industry pundits and tech professionals have raised several concerns on the AI policy, stating that a blanket mandate to protect jobs won’t work.
They point out that government wants to mandate a human-centric approach to AI through a "human-in-the-loop" (HITL) mechanism intended to protect employment.
Section 9 of the policy, and its sub-sections, mandates that AI should not replace human decision-making, addresses the need to minimise job displacement and calls for AI to be used to augment rather than replace human labour.
Bruce von Maltitz, CEO of 1Stream, said this is a fundamental misconception.
While he supports these mandates for consumer protection and critical human inclusivity, he believes legislation alone won't save jobs – and if handled poorly, could stifle the growth of South African organisations.
Von Maltitz explained that in a hypothetical scenario, a company rolling out AI with the aim of fully replacing 1 000 human call centre agents could, in theory, keep one human call centre agent and still "legally" replace the other 999 with AI, because a human is still in the loop.
“I think AI is going to change lots of jobs in contact centres, as you need roles like AI trainers, AI QA and AI data analysts, and this is going to require up-skilling and re-skilling. If government wants to protect jobs, then it needs to have incentives, retraining programmes and skills development.”
He argued that HITL is a technical safety brake for the consumer, not an economic solution for the employee.
“By conflating the two (as is likely the case in the policy's current form) government risks creating legislative hurdles that stifle growth without actually addressing the displacement mentioned in Section 9.1.1 and 9.2,” Maltitz added.
Job transition needed
Tech pundit Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, said the draft AI policy gets an important principle right in pushing for a human-centric approach, particularly where consumers and high-stakes decisions are involved. However, he added that the idea that a blanket HITL requirement can protect jobs reflects a misunderstanding of how AI is being deployed.
“Rather than neatly replacing humans, AI changes the very nature of work, in that it redefines roles, workflows and required skills. Trying to regulate that through rigid mandates risks slowing down adoption without protecting employment.
“The concern expressed is valid, in that regulation on its own cannot save jobs. If anything, it could make South African companies less competitive if it adds friction and even more compliance hurdles. We have enough of those,” stated Goldstuck.
If government is serious about protecting jobs, the focus needs to shift to incentives and large-scale reskilling. It is about job transition rather than preservation, he said.
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