Abstract
The study examined South Africa's economic progress, the challenges, and opportunities for sustainable development. The study indicated that the combination of a low growth rate and the continued rise in the unemployment rate, particularly among the youth population in South Africa shows that the country's economic trajectory is not sustainable. The youth are the key drivers of the economy, so their disengagement from economic activities may pose a serious effect on economic development and sustainability. To ensure sustainable growth, the government ought to implement chains of growth reforms that not only promote economic transformation, but support labor-intensive growth, and create a globally competitive economy. This study highlights five fundamental factors as building blocks for promoting sustainable long-run growth and thereby identifying a series of specific and comprehensive reforms to increase potential growth in the country. The economic growth has been driven mainly by the tertiary sector, which includes wholesale and retail trade, tourism, and communications. This is a review study that primarily used secondary sources through a qualitative method. All data were collected through a secondary source since this is desktop research. The collected data were analyzed thematically based on content, the findings show that South Africa's key economic challenges appear to be the high unemployment rate.