The face of the unemployed

“We are on the bottom of the food chain and the face of the statistic of the unemployed in the country,” say seven unemployed people of our area.

They say they had given up on the quest of searching for work or the government helping them to get skills and find work.

Life is hard for them and supporting their children, and in some cases grandchildren, is a challenge.

“We are supposed to care for our children, not our children looking after us,” is their remark on their situation.

They live from the hand to the mouth because they don’t have work.

All they want is a sustainable income to become honoured citizens of our country.

They say the government has trained some of them in valuable skills, but there are no permanent job opportunities for them.

They became “project junkies” because most of them will only get work at a project, have money for six months and continue the search for work again.

They also feel the government will not give them support if they have an idea in uplifting themselves.

Another problem is the corruption they encounter in trying to find jobs, where some people are favoured above another group.

Here are some of their stories:

Nomfuso Mdonga (44) has a matric and computer skills, but has been without work since 2000.

She cannot take her four children on a holiday to the Eastern Cape, because they live with the bare minimum.

Clement Khumalo (43) did several diplomas through government initiatives and has a degree in human resources development.

He has been without work since 2008 and cannot get work because of his lack of work experience.

He has been volunteering in several projects in the community.

Clement, also as a volunteer, started a gym for the old women in Duduza, but gets no support from the government to serve these women in a proper way.

The lack of work experience is also the problem of Katlego Diphoko (26) who has a national diploma in marketing.

He got the chance of a four month internship, but that is not enough work experience to get a full-time job.

Thomas Nyaoza (53) has been searching for a welding job since 1999, but his lack of experience cannot secure him a proper job.

He is living with his children and doesn’t know where his next meal will come from.

Patience Leboto (53) completed her diploma in administration in 1983, had a clerical job until 1995 and has not worked since then.

She and her three adult children are living on the elderly grant of her 84-year-old mother.

Sibosiso Ditshego (37) has worked as a porter at a hotel in Cape Town and has struggled since 2009 to find work.

He started a small business, called “Koop en Verkoop” where he sells goods to earn a living and to be able financially support in his 12-year-old daughter and girlfriend’s needs.

“This is still a life of living from hand to mouth,” he says.

Khanyi Ngobesi (37) also made a plan to sell meat and mealies after she only had temporary work for three months.

She says she is suffering in the rain and wind, only to make a little bit of money to make ends meet.

Her problem is she is now being chased away from the spot where she braais and sells the mealies.

Read more about some unemployed people’s pleas to be considered for work at the new train manufacturing plant in Dunnottar.