It was during an interview with Desiree Chauke on SABC News that Nonceba Mhlauli, ANC Youth League National Convenor said, “We cannot celebrate youth month through cutting ribbons while young people continue to ho hungry, young people continue to be unemployed.”
The unemployment rate for first quarter 2021 was announced to hit a record high of 43.2%, while the youth jobless rate 74,7% (www.statssa.com). “We really do believe that youth unemployment is a pandemic and it is something that has been talked about for many years,” she added.
She said it is time the government takes the youth unemployment pandemic as serious as they took the COVID-19 pandemic when they made money available to combat it’s effects.
The youth unemployment statics are disturbing and some analysts are saying some young people have no prospects of ever finding a job.
“We demand amongst others the issue of older people who ought to be retiring in order to make space for young people to get into the job market”
She also mentioned that the best way to launch youth month is to go into the streets and make heard our dissatisfactions with the state of youth in South Africa.
Article by: NGOConnectSA
Interview Source: SABC News
Picture courtesy: TimesLive
