Johannesburg - The African National Congress Youth League on Tuesday slammed the hospitality industry and accused it of overlooking South African youth when hiring workers.
ANCYL Secretary Njabulo Nzuza said there was a problem of “subcontracting everything to government”.
“It is the responsibility of the private sector to be patriotic and employ citizens of the country…employment is not a government issue alone, but it must create an enabling environment for jobs. When private companies only employ foreign nationals, then we ask what government is doing about that,” Nzuza told reporters in Johannesburg.
He said the private sector “was being unpatriotic”, as most of the restaurants in the country employed foreign nationals and overlooked unemployed youngsters in the townships.
“Why is the private industry not being patriotic? We are talking about jobs in the hospitality sector, waitresses…if you go to a restaurant and ask the person serving you where they come from, they will tell you they are not a citizen of this country, whilst our own young people are sitting in the townships unemployed….it’s wrong, they must stop doing it.”
The ANCYL had met over three days, and was reacting to the recent Stats SA report, titled “The Social Profile of Youth, 2009 – 2014” that painted a bleak picture about the state of South African youth. The report revealed that black youth aged between 25 and 34 were less skilled compared to their parents and formed a large part of the country’s high unemployment rate.
Nzuza said his organisation was “engaging the report” as custodians of the youth in South Africa. One of its goals was to ensure that the mother body, the ANC was led by young people after 2017.
“The ANCYL has a seat in the ANC national executive committee, but that is not enough…we should be seeing the ANC that is led by young people to be able to lead the third revolution. Young people are not conservative compared to older people, who shy away from confrontational issues.”
ANCYL spokesman Mlondi Mkhize said although the law was not against the employment of foreign nationals, the private sector was not doing enough for locals. Most truck drivers were foreign nationals, he said.
“Just take time and go to the road and freight bargaining council and do some investigation as reporters…you will be confronted by this situation. Why would a South African with a code 14 driver’s licence be overlooked over a foreign national?” he asked.
Turning to the security industry, Nzuza said most of the companies were foreign owned, and therefor posed a threat to South Africa’s national security.
The companies employed more personnel that the SA Police Service and were often better armed than the police.
“The majority of G4S security company is contracted to government departments…government must shut down these contracts and employ more young people in the SAPS. This will help in absorbing security personnel which are employed and more so underpaid by these security services.”
African News Agency
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