By Sisanda Mgojo and Awande Mabizela
Scores of the youth joined the KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League’s march to the City Hall this week to demand a comprehensive plan to address rife youth unemployment.
The march started at King Dinuzulu Park and ended at the Durban City Hall, where the eThekwini Municipality was handed a memorandum.
The marchers expressed their dissatisfaction and called for immediate action to combat unemployment.
Mduduzi Shabane, from Umlazi Ward 85, said the government is not doing enough to address youth unemployment.
“The government has programmes to fund the education of young people in the country, but there are no strategies in place for employment after the youth have completed their studies. Learnerships and internships are short-term solutions that don’t help us as young people in the long run, hence some resort to crime to support themselves and their families,” he said.
A graduate in Human Resource Management, Philani Khanyase, said: “It is very painful to be a graduate. I’m sitting at home unemployed and what hurts me the most is that I am now 35 years old, an age where I’m deemed unemployable (for internship).”
The municipality was presented with a memorandum outlining grievances and demands, including illegal immigration, South Africa’s raw material exports, unemployment and water crisis.
The ANC Youth League president, Tlhologelo Collen Malatji, said that the government should focus on developing industries that convert raw materials into processed products.
He said: “Raw materials in South Africa should not be exported, instead those materials should be processed in the country and sold in the country by businesses owned by South Africans to create job opportunities for the youth.”
The mayor’s advisor, Mlungisi Ntombela, received the memorandum on behalf of the municipality. “I acknowledge that, as the mayor’s office, we have received the memorandum. I guarantee that we will get in touch with the local Youth League office in seven days.”
The march organisers expressed hope that their concerns will not be overlooked and they will wait for feedback from the municipality.
