By: Nomatshawe Bangani
A group of unemployed youth around East London took part in a no work no vote march this morning.
Singing struggle songs, the marchers made their way from Buffalo City College to the East London City Hall to hand over a memorandum of demands to the mayor.
One of the organisers of the march Xolani Mfoloshe said the aim of the march is to fight the high unemployment rate in BCM. He said government only knows them when it is time to vote and that is why they chose the no work no vote slogan to send a strong message, that they will not vote until they get jobs.
“People have been voting since 1994 but we see no change when it comes to job creation. We have many graduates sitting at home for years with their qualifications. The government only knows us when elections approach, they make promises and after we vote for them they disappear and not fulfil their promises. Today we are saying we will not vote until government opens up job opportunities,” he said.
The memorandum includes suggestions that the employment age of 18-35 should be adjusted, youth centres that will offer free services like internet and printing be available, grant allowance for job seekers and free learners and driving lessons among others.
One of the marchers Lona Dyantyi said internships and learnerships are only open to graduates under 35, meaning people above that age are excluded.
“The age limit is making it difficult for us to be employed even though we have the necessary qualifications. We are not looking for handouts from government, we want to work and use our qualifications.” She added.
An unemployed graduate from Mdantsane who did not want to be named said, after graduating with an internal auditing qualification in 2010 from NMMU, she has been struggling to find employment.
Senior manager of the mayors office Sinethemba Mashalaba accepted the memorandum and promised the marchers that he will hand it over to the mayor and respond to them within seven days.