Jobs, jobs, jobs: Cape Flats youth plead with campaigning Ramaphosa to resolve unemployment

Youth unemployment, crime, gender-based violence, gangsterism and problems with accessing funding from the state’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

These are some of the problems young people from the Cape Flats confronted President Cyril Ramaphosa about during a meeting with first time voters in Langa, Cape Town, on Thursday night.

Most of the 28 youths who addressed Ramaphosa, who is campaigning in the Western Cape this week, raised their frustrations about the lack of jobs.

“President, we love you. We want to win the Western Cape as the ANC but I want you to address youth unemployment in the province,” said a young man from Bonteheuwel living with a disability.

Luthando Kroti from Delft said: “We’ve been applying, but there are no jobs. I’ve completed Grade 12. We don’t see the ANC’s contribution to our lives.”

For Lulo Mkhabela, also of Delft, her main concern was that in her area, Jerusalem in Delft, there were no toilets and no running water. She also complained about the NSFAS, saying after a application for funding was approved, the money has not come through.

Lasile Silinga from Parklands complained about the high rate of crime.

“As a black woman in South Africa, I live in fear of being raped or murdered, and the service we are receiving from law enforcement is really disappointing.

“The ANC needs to bring a change to this country now. The time to play is over. We need answers.”

Abongile Mpongoshe said: “We need the death penalty, specially for people who kill women.”

Others asked to be armed with relevant skills, a school of arts, sports facilities, drug rehabilitation centres and funding for non-profit organisations as they were trying to give back to their communities.

Ramaphosa said he appreciated “the frustration, sometimes anger and hopelessness” of young people when it comes to youth unemployment.

“But I also want to say this government is serious about addressing youth unemployment,” he said.

“We have identified jobs.

“I want you to divide this period maybe into two: what are we going to do about youth unemployment and what we have been doing in the recent period about youth unemployment.”

In its manifesto, the ANC has identified six things and top of the list is unemployment and creating jobs.

The party had realised jobs are the critical issue affecting people in the country, he said.

“Let me be clear. Most people who are not working are young. At the same time there are many people 35 (years) and above who are also not working. We are focusing on both groups and not solely on young people.”

He said when the ANC came into power in 1994, there were only 8-million people working in the formal economy.

That number was now 16.7-million people, which meant government had created 8.7-million jobs.

Ramaphosa said creating one full time job for a long time costs a lot of money and hence government’s reliance on job creation was largely on the private sector. The private sector controls 70% of the economy, he said, and therefore most jobs will be created by the sector while the public sector will play a role in enabling this.

“We create the environment for them to create jobs. We are the ones who mobilise the world, the countries to invest in our economy. We do responsibility.”

He promised that to meet young people’s aspirations, the ANC government, if re-elected, will create 5-million jobs in the next five years. He acknowledged this will be a tall order as South Africa was only creating about 600,000 to 700,000 jobs while economic growth was around 5%.

Ramaphosa also spoke about job schemes for youth government has launched over the past few years, including the R21bn which he said has been set aside to train young people.

This received loud applause from the hundreds of youths at the meeting.

Ramaphosa urged the youth not to feel sorry for themselves but to emulate the generations of young people who changed the course of South Africa's history.

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