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Job seekers stand along a road
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West has called for the provincial government to declare unemployment a provincial disaster.
The party marched against high unemployment rates and submitted a memorandum to the provincial government in Mahikeng.
The DA wants provincial authorities to immediately implement measurable and practical interventions to address unemployment.
The DA’s Provincial Chairperson Freddy Sonakile says this is just the beginning.
“Let this march be remembered not as a complain session but as the beginning of the fight for jobs, as the beginning for the fight for dignity and as the beginning for the fight for opportunity in the North West.”
Meanwhile, MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng, received the memorandum on behalf of Premier Lazarus Mokgosi and dismissed suggestions that they fail to deal decisively with unemployment.
Morweng emphasised that there is no need to declare unemployment a provincial disaster.
“I don’t think the strategies are not working, we need to change the methods. The honest reality is that the population grows every day. There are things that we need to do as government and plan properly so that we can be able to respond to the issue of joblessness and unemployment that is affecting women, the youth and people living with disabilities the most.”
North West tops the list in terms of unemployment statistics.
StatsSA’s first quarter Labour Force Survey shows the province was leading the pack with 40,4% in terms official unemployment rate, and 56% in terms of the expanded unemployment rate.
The latter includes people who have given up in looking for jobs. Though the province had a decline of 0,9%, unemployment remains a cause for concern.
