Reading Time: 2 minutes
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has reiterated its call for a 50% representation of the youth in the ANC caucus in the national assembly ahead of the 2024 National Elections. The League’s president Collen Malatji says this is the beginning of their fight for the visibility of young people in all structures of their mother body the ANC.
The league held its Provincial Manifesto Demands Rally at the Bhisho stadium in the Eastern Cape. The Youth League president says part of their demands include interventions to develop skills among young people and the creation of employment opportunities.
He says the League is applying pressure on government to ensure that this happens.
“The immediate intervention is a skills development programme that they must place all young people on, that is the most important thing. We must reindustrialize as an urgent matter because all these industries have collapsed because we have been moving all our raw materials to other nations to develop their secondary tertiary sectors neglecting our own. We have demanded not less than 50% representation of youth to be in parliament, a demand that we are ready to fight for and it’s a demand we are ready to achieve,” says Malatji.
The youth in attendance has expressed a keen interest in next year’s elections. It has lamented the suffering they endure due to unemployment.
“Unemployment is a bad thing happening to young people they go to school to make Education fashionable and they don’t get employment after that. We have a problem of young people not wanting to go to school because of this unemployment rate that is growing. So as young people we want to take over the administration of strategic offices so that we develop jobs for young people,” says Sanele Mahlasela, an unemployed graduate.
“It is very important for young people to vote so that their voices can be heard. Because we know that unemployment is very high, that is why is always important. Because they always complain about jobs and other things, of which they do not vote,” says Asanda Liwani, another unemployed graduate.
The current unemployment rate in the Eastern Cape stands at nearly 40%.
Eastern Cape Premier says they are addressing unemployment:
