Young people take to the streets over lack of jobs

A large number of Johannesburg residents, mainly consisting young people, has been marching in Randburg over the lack of jobs.

The group is protesting under the banner of an organisation calling itself, Combat, at the Kya Sands Industrial Park.

It is accusing companies around the area of hiring illegal immigrants, disadvantaging millions of South Africans who need work.

According to the latest statistics, South Africa’s unemployment rate is among the highest in the world with 32.9% of locals without jobs.

The youth unemployment rate of job-seekers between the ages of 15 and 24 years rose to 62.1% in the first quarter of 2023, which is said to be the highest in a year.

“We require that the companies follow our laws and ensure that they hire proper people with documents. We have so far submitted our memorandum to various companies and they are cooperative and responsive,” protest leader, Solly Moagi, told YNews.

The companies, including Northlands Industrial Park, have promised to give feedback to the protestors within the next 24 hours.

The group has also submitted their memorandum of demands to the Department of Home Affairs.

“We want them to come and do operations into these firms because we can’t go into these firms,” Moagi says.

The march organiser says they will continue to put pressure on the organisations should they fail to respond favourably to their demands.

“We will keep on marching until our people are hired because we have thousands and thousands of South Africans who need employment who stay near Kya Sands Business Park. They should be a priority in terms of being absorbed.”

“We have a database of skilled and unskilled labourers. South Africans where we are also giving the companies a resolution to say if you are going to remove someone who is illegal – we will also give you a solution to say take someone who has the skill you want if it is a skill labour. If not, we will take from the database.”

The Home Affairs Department has promised to attend to the community’s concerns.