Katlego Sekhu
Panyaza Lesufi, Premier of Gauteng, recently made a call for 12 thousand unemployed youth to take on projects installing wifi in townships, informal settlements, and hostels. Additionally, an additional six thousand youth were invited to become data capturers. However, as Sizwe Dhlomo and Sol Phenduka discussed this initiative, Columnist and Director of Rivonia Circle, Tessa Dooms, offered her analysis of the situation.
Dooms raised concerns, noting that while it may appear that the government is creating jobs, these opportunities are filling existing vacancies rather than addressing the underlying unemployment crisis. She stressed that the real challenge lies in the crucial areas that Panyaza Lesufi’s initiative fails to address.
“There has been a huge crisis in the health sector. The freezing of jobs has put a big burden on nurses, and that has not been resolved.”
To fully address the issue of unemployment, Dooms emphasized that the government must operate at a systemic level. She suggested the need for a comprehensive approach that involves creating a different economic system, reevaluating the structure of capital in the country, and providing various layers of support for small to medium-sized businesses.
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