Job seekers in Alexandra have been called upon to assemble at Sankopano Centre at 08:00 on April 22 for a peaceful march.
The call was made by the president of the South African Job Seekers Movement Mush Raletjena. “I decided to start this movement [in 2017] after observing that a lot of people from Alex are not working even though a lot of industries are in close proximity to Alex,” he said.
After doing research, Raletjena said many job seekers when visiting companies to look for jobs were denied access by security guards in Linbro Park, Marlboro and Sandton.
“When we go as a group, they [companies] listen and give us attention… [there were 154 of us] when we launched the first march and distributed our CVs across Linbro Park and Marlboro. “We conduct these marches once or twice a week and we aim to create a relationship between the business community and the communities close by.”
After visiting the firms, Raletjena said they returned their a few weeks later to follow up with management to check if they had hired any of the job seekers.
Raletjena said on March 22 the movement would visit the Department of Home Affairs and the City of Johannesburg to hand over a memorandum of demands, and then march to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to submit their CVs. “This should work well for us as there are a lot of companies registered under the JSE.”
He said the marches were peaceful as they only sought to present themselves to potential employers. “We are in partnership with various other organisations such as the Temporary Workers Union of South Africa, Put South Africa First, and Greater Alexandra Chamber of Commerce and Industry which also gave us office to operate from.”
Details: Mush Raletjana 065 949 3929; Dumisane Nkosi 081 593 7083.
