Dreadful youth unemployment, heavily hinder Lejweleputswa youth’s progress

As the entire country battles the rigid effects of the high unemployment rate, with latest developments emerging that the unemployment rate has reached a high record of 66.5%, Lejweleputswa remains the embattled municipality with highest unemployment rate.

This ranges from a huge number of unemployment youth, with the majority holding National Senior Certificates followed by the unemployed graduates.

Living in mining affected communities, within Lejweleputswa district municipality and most particularly Matjhabeng Local Municipality, as young people how unemployment affect us?

The following is some of the many things that affect us as unemployed youth including graduates youth.

1. Government policies in different departments.

The issue of age, most of the time many departments prefers youth between the age of 18 to 35 years. In some case for graduate youth it will be the issue of skill, or experience

3. Government or municipality prefer to hire private companies thus deprive our youth for permanent employment for example; Security companies or cleaning companies in different departments.

2. In private sector: age restriction same as government department and also the issue of skill and experience.

Most employment comes from mining as we are mining affected communities, many of young people don’t have necessary skills in order to be considered in the mining sector.

Thus deprive many young people of employment in the mining sector.

In some cases it’s the corruption within private sector and government sector when employment is concern, many young people can’t get employed because of connections from both private and government sectors.

Other companies will be retail shops, around the municipality which most of the time don’t employ youth on a permanent employment, with ridiculous contracts.

3. Non Private Companies are some of the way to create employment but the challenge comes when there are not funded by both private and government institutions.

Remembering that they are the most affective companies that fight inequality and social issues around our communities.

Things like socio-economic issues and community development issues such as poverty eradication projects. Through this projects NPOs can create jobs for youth the only challenge is funding most of the case.

4. Non support of SMMEs also contribute in the struggle for youth to get employment, SMMEs are supposed to be the heart of creation of employment and that could be possible if they got necessary support from both private and government sectors.

5. Too many policies in both private sectors including government departments and for the mere fact that mining is the corner stone of our municipality a lot could have being achieve from the support of mining companies.

But because the municipality always have one food on the cookie jar that becomes impossible for SMMEs and NPOs to get support from mining companies.

Until mining companies deal with the communities directly nothing will change and also until the government department work with communities directly also nothing will change because the can be nothing about us without us.

6. Social ills like alcohol, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy is one of the effects of unemployment in our communities because many youth find themselves unemployed and resort to the above.

On top of that the is also a leak of sport activities in our communities including Arts centres which could have being one of the ways youth can focus on their talent to make a living.

• Views expressed in this opinion piece are of the contributor not of Kasi Voice News.