Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa promised young people of Langa, Cape Town, that his government would create one million jobs a year over the next five years, and that R21 billion would be set aside to train young people.
Ramaphosa was speaking at an ANC rally in Langa, where he listened to hundreds of young people, most of whom were first-time voters.
The youth, who came from across Cape Town, told the president about their everyday frustrations, such as unemployment, service delivery and lack of access to education.
According to Statistics SA, young people between the 15 and 34 years old remained vulnerable in the labour market. The fourth quarter of 2023 results show that the total number of unemployed youth rose by 87 000 to 4.7 million.
At the same time, there was a decrease of 97 000 in the number of employed youth to every 5.9 million. This resulted in an increase in the youth unemployment rate by 0.9 percentage points, from 43.4% in Q3 2023 to 44.3% in Q4 2023.
Ramaphosa said the ANC's manifesto addressed youth unemployment, and it would be the party's over the next five years, if re-elected.
“In our manifesto, we identified six things at the top of the list: unemployment and job creation. We have realised that jobs are a critical issue that is affecting the people of this country, and let me be clear: the majority of people who are not working are young people.
“But at the same time, there are many people, 35 and older, who are also not working,” said the president.
“Some of you say: ‘Promises, promises, and promises, what have you done?' It's a good question. But it must be based on real information and evidence. What is the evidence? When we got into power in 1994, there were only 8 million people who were working, and today there are 16.7 million.
“So our jobs plan talks about creating 5 million jobs in the next five years. Creating a million jobs a year is a huge achievement. Over the years, our economy has only managed to create 600 000 jobs.
“Even when we were growing at 5%, we only managed to create 600 000 or 700 000 jobs. That's what we were able to create. But now we are going to create a million jobs,” he said.
Ramaphosa said: “We are going to train young people and put R21 billion into training young people.”
[WATCH] ANC President, Cde Cyril Ramaphosa addresses supporters in Langa, Cape Town Western Cape https://t.co/E8WDrxr600
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) May 2, 2024
Awam Lisa Jacob, a student at UWC, pleaded with the president to speed up the process of job creation, as unemployment had devastating effects on young people.
“The reason we have so many young people on drugs is because they have nothing to do and no opportunities; they are bored, and that is why we see them joining gangs and beating up their mothers,” Jacobs said.
Nomthandazo Dunywa also pleaded with the president to create jobs for young people.
“Mr President, as a young person, I still believe in the ANC. However, please invest in creating jobs for young people. It's not nice leaving our parents at home to look for jobs knowing that there’s no hope. I am pleading with you to please invest in job opportunities for young people.”
Ramaphosa was this week campaigning for the ANC throughout the Western Cape, where he spoke with many supporters and potential voters.