Unemployment ‘worse than Covid, HIV and TB’, says ANCYL leader

The magnitude of the fight against unemployment was verbally illustrated by the leader of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) on Friday.

Collen Malatji opened the Peter Mokaba Memorial Lecture in Khayelitsha, in the Western Cape, as part of the ANC’s 113th-anniversary celebrations this weekend.

The youth league leader gave a fiery address, vowing to stand against anyone who was in the way of the economic prosperity of the youth.

Unemployment a sickness

Malatji lamented how a nation with rich natural wealth was unable to provide a bright future for its young people.

He said South Africa had become a nation of consumers who had forgotten the value of manufacturing, which had led to rampant youth unemployment.

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He was troubled by the number of students being left jobless despite graduating from university, saying the issue was akin to a sickness.

“There is a disaster happening in the country. The disaster is called unemployment of the youth,” stressed Malatji.

“The disaster is worse than Covid-19, it’s worse than HIV, it’s worse than TB, it’s worse than any other disease. That disaster is called unemployment of the youth,” Malatji bellowed.

ANC electoral decline

Malatji singled out the banking sector for monopolising the financial heart of the country, repeating the call to nationalise the South African Reserve Bank.

He stated the economy needed to be restructured to prioritise the youth, expressing his belief that the youth were being locked out of land ownership and wealth creation.

The ANC declined drastically in the previous elections, with Malatji blaming the results on the slow pace of wealth redistribution.

“They voted against the ANC because they are protesting. The protest is not because they hate the ANC, the protest is for economic freedom now, not later,” Malatji said.

Jacob Zuma, Floyd Shivambu and the South African Communist Party were all in Malatji’s audible crosshairs, declaring anyone not standing with the ANC and “counter-revolutionary”.  

ANC’s 113th anniversary

ANC members have descended on Cape Town to celebrate the party’s 113^th anniversary. The party was founded on 8 January 1912.

This is the first time the party has held its annual celebration in Cape Town since the Democratic Alliance flipped the Western Cape in 2009.

Upon arriving in the cape this week, ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile accused the Democratic Alliance of neglecting the city’s poor, hence the party’s decision to bring the annual birthday rally to Khayelitsha.

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