‘That nonsense must come to an end’: Malema lashes out at government creating temporary jobs

EFF leader Julius Malema has lashed out at the government for its failure to create sustainable jobs, leaving millions to languish in poverty, with social grants as their only source of income. 

Malema was addressing a community meeting in Mlumati, Mpumalanga on Tuesday.

He said if the EFF is elected to power in the local government elections on November 1, the party will create jobs that pay decent salaries and offer benefits including a retirement fund and medical aid. 

“We want to give security guards permanent jobs, because if you are working for companies, you don’t know if you will still have a job tomorrow. That nonsense must come to an end,” said Malema.

Stats SA painted a grim picture of unemployment in the country in its second quarter report. The agency revealed that the unemployment rate hit 34.4% in the second quarter, from 32.6% in the first quarter. The number of unemployed people increased to 7.82-million in the three months to the end of June, from 7.24-million in the previous three months. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the presidential employment stimulus programme last year to assist unemployed youths whose situation had been further worsened by the pandemic. After engaging with residents in Umlazi, in Durban south last week, the president said the government was working hard to create jobs. 

The need for jobs was highlighted recently when the department of basic education received more than 2.7-million applications from more than 475,000 young people who applied for 287,000 teaching and general assistant positions.

Malema said the community must not be blinded by loyalty to the ANC, saying they must vote them out at the polls in November.

“It is now in your hands. You know your pain, you know your suffering, you know your struggle. Only you can stop it. I can only come and talk to you. Only you can say enough is enough,” Malema told the crowd.