Engcobo Youth Take to the Streets to Protest for Unemployment

Engcobo unemployed youth, wage a protest against the municipality on Wednesday.

Amahle Phendu

(The Post News)– A number of young people from Engcobo, Chris Hani Municipality, wage protest on Wednesday, calling for the employment of young people in the area.

Lupho Dyonase, the convener of the unemployed youth, said it is not the first time that they have tried to voice their concerns about unemployment, but they have not been taken seriously.

“We have engaged the municipality several times, and we have been unsuccessful in addressing the issue at hand, so this is the last resort that we take the matter to the streets so as to attract more young people to join us in saying no to unemployment,” he said.

The majority of the unemployed youth are people who are already from families that are suffering, and this only makes matters worse. This protest is not only aimed at the municipality, but they also want business owners to help in creating jobs.

“The youth are also not planning on stopping to fight this unemployment”. Lupho Dyonase also alluded that they are going to take their grievances to the provincial government.

“If the municipality is not taking us seriously, we are going to take the matter to the provincial level,” he said. The youth also claim that corruption also plays a huge role in the unemployment that is lingering in the community.

The people from the municipality are not taking the youth of the town seriously enough, and when jobs are there, they are given to friends and are not posted for the whole community, concluded Dyonase.

The protest did not take the turn it was expected to, as the municipality refused to accept the memorandum that was being presented by the group of protesters.