Communists demand jobs for young people

The Young Communist League has called on the government to fill all its job vacancies by employing young people.

Speaking to journalists yesterday after last week's youth summit in Johannesburg, YCL national chairman Buti Manamela said companies that had closed as a result of the global economic recession should be resuscitated as worker-controlled co-operatives supported by the government.

The summit had agreed to establish a coalition to deal with unemployment among young people.

"Part of our concern raised was [that] the trend in youth unemployment is global and South Africa is part of the global economy," said Manamela.

A summit meeting on youth unemployment will be held in Sweden next month, when the Jobs for Youth Charter will be unveiled during the commemoration of the June 16 Soweto uprising.

Manamela also dealt with the development of young entrepreneurs, skills development, government help for young people looking for jobs and the role of the peace-time military.

"The summit was not reduced to a mere talking shop," he said.

"We are going to be knocking on doors, and if they are not opened we will kick them down so that young people are offered jobs," said Manamela.

The summit had committed itself to identifying companies that were closed because of the recession, and to helping the workers affected to build them up again.

"This has happened before - for instance, in Argentina in the late '90s, when the economy plummeted and workers took over the running of deserted factories, some of which are still sustainable today," he said.

Manamela expressed concern that black economic empowerment businesses were still largely owned by whites.

"BEE companies have done nothing but bring politically connected people into business," said Manamela.

The majority of BEE deals had resulted in black people "becoming tokens to access deals" with the government, he said.

Manamela urged the government to continue with affirmative action, but he warned that "black South Africans should not be used as tokens, and should not be employed in the private sector to be streamlined".