Thousands of unemployed youth march to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange offices (JSE) in Sandton to hand over a memorandum of demands. Picture: Simon Majadibodu / IOL
ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Collen Malatji has warned President Cyril Ramaphosa if the unemployment crisis in the country is not resolved by December, the youth league will shut down and remove him from the Union Buildings.
Malatji said that outside the Johannesburg Stock Exchange offices (JSE) in Sandton, where he led the march with thousands of supporters to hand over a memorandum of demands.
The peaceful march which was dominated by jobless youth, started from the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters in Luthuli House in Joburg to the Sandton area.
The march was aimed at demanding urgent attention on pressing issues such as the unemployment rate, inequality, economic transformation, and improved access to quality education and job opportunities from the JSE.
The marchers dressed in the youth league’s white regalia and took to the streets to voice their demands.
Thousands of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) supporters have flooded Johannesburg streets, dressed in white, as they march to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to submit a memorandum of demands.
— IOL News (@IOL) October 11, 2024
The marchers are demanding action on issues such as unemployment, inclusive economy,… pic.twitter.com/Cwe8KOmY6v
ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi, along with members of the Congress of South African Students Movement (Cosas) and the South African Students Congress (Sasco) attended the march.
During his address, Malatji said that there are over 60% of young people in the country who are unemployed and demanded the JSE to create jobs for them.
He voiced concern that their demand for an inclusive economy and job creation has been ignored, adding that they submitted a similar memorandum of demands in 2011, but there was no response.
“The JSE has not responded to our memorandum and we are back again here 13 years later. We hope that the CEO of the JSE is here to accept our memorandum, but before that, we want to know what happened to the memorandum that we submitted in 2011,” he said, drawing hand claps from the crowd.
He said they demand all the listed companies on the JSE to prove that more than 60% of their shareholders are black people.
“We can't have an economy in this country that was run by white males in apartheid, and 30 years later is still run by white males. It can't be right, that the face of poverty in this country is black when the majority of black people are born in a country where there’s minerals.
“We are saying, 70% of raw materials must remain here in this country to revive the secondary industries. There won't be anyone who does not have gold while staying in Europe and will tell us about gold, which he does not have.” Malatji said.
Furthermore, Malatji issued a stern warning to Ramaphosa to take urgent action on the high rate of unemployment and fulfil the promise made before May 29 general elections.
“Ramaphosa, we are also coming to you in the Union Buildings ... .We told Ramaphosa that we will go out in numbers and do door-to-door for the ANC to be voted in, but it is not on an empty check.”
ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the high rate of unemployment in SA.
— Simon Majadibodu (@MajadiboduSimon) October 11, 2024
Malatji warned Ramaphosa that, if there’s no solution to the unemployment crisis by December, the youth league will remove him from the Union Buildings pic.twitter.com/znOx8deSLx
Malatji warned Ramaphosa that, if he does not take any measures to address the unemployment crisis they would mobilise the youth and shut down the Union Buildings
“If by December, there’s no clear direction, we have resolved that I am going to install myself as president of this country,” he said.
Karabo Motshweni, 35, from Thembisa told IOL News that she has been unemployed since 2018 and expressed the urgent need for job creation.
“We are really suffering, we are trying to do job hunting, but despite our efforts we have not seen any positive results. We are hoping that struggles will be heard through this march and that urgent action will be taken.”
The deputy minister of Employment and Labour Jomo Sibiya accepted the memorandum of demands on behalf of JSE and admitted that unemployment is a critical issue for young people.
“This march shows that the numbers of young people who came out to march and hand over the memorandum of demands cannot be ignored.”
Sibiya said they are committing to develop employment programmes aimed at reducing the high unemployment rate among young people.
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