The youth league says the provincial structure has deliberately excluded young people from economic activities.
The Gauteng ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has reached a boiling point and is not mincing its words when addressing Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
The league briefed the media on Wednesday, addressing corruption and financial mismanagement within the provincial government.
Among others is the confirmation by Gauteng finance and economic development MEC Lebogang Maile last month was that R1.8 billion was returned to the National Treasury due to underspending in the province’s annual budget, mainly from the health and education departments.
The Gauteng Provincial Government’s final budget for the 2024-25 financial year was R168.76 billion. By year-end, it had spent R166.97 billion, which is 99% of the budget.
The total underspending was R1.799 billion, of which R1.041 billion (58%) came from the health and education departments. The remaining R769 million (42%) came from all other departments combined.
READ MORE: Gauteng underspends budget but says R1.8bn not lost
The youth league lamented the return of the amount while young people languish in unemployment.
The media briefing was one of the “creative ways” of getting the provincial leadership to implement what the league has put on the table.
Young people ‘frustrated’
“The time for consultations without implementation is over. The frustration of young people in this province is reaching a boiling point, not because we are impatient, but because we have been deliberately excluded from economic opportunities,” said chairperson Ntsako Mogobe.
ALSO READ: Maile earmarks 60% of Gauteng procurement for local businesses
“Our dignity has been stripped, and meaningful participation of young people in programmes in Gauteng is not there. The youth league will not remain silent while the future of Gauteng’s youth is compromised by complacency, incompetence, and corruption. The time for polite requests is over. We cannot survive on empty promises, raise our families and build our future with slogans. Premier Panyaza Lesufi, the youth in Gauteng, asi’spani [we don’t have jobs].
“When we say we have reached the boiling point, it means we have had several discussions and generally, old people, like they are, are allergic to youth development. We have raised our concerns about these issues, but there appears to be a deliberate attempt to exclude young people in this province.
ALSO READ: Gang violence grips Joburg south as Lesufi fails to act, says DA
“The truth is that young people in this province do not work, and we can’t keep giving them rhetoric. The youth league must be able to challenge the government to say that these interventions you are bringing are not addressing the real issues. Our impatience is that there are no responses, and we are starting to have problems. Generally, old people are starting to be allergic to the rise of young people in the province.”
‘We love Premier Lesufi’
Secretary Mpume Sangweni said that despite their unaddressed grievances against Lesufi, they still loved him as premier.
“It’s just unfortunate that young people in the province are in a very abusive relationship with the premier. Young people love the premier, but he doesn’t love us, because if he did, he would have considered the Gauteng Youth Advisory Panel, among others,” said Sangweni.
ALSO READ: ‘I’m viewing my options,’ says Lesufi on availability for ANC’s top positions
“We are right in the middle of youth month, the premier delivered the SOPA months ago, by now we should be knowing who is appointed in the panel. These are engagements we’ve been having with the premier. Young people in the province are not taken seriously. The leadership of the ANC does not believe in young people.”
He said the ANC’s argument that young people are not ready to be in leadership positions was invalid.
“There is an MEC who was an MEC when he was 26 years old. No questions were asked whether he was ready or not. Today, he’s the second senior MEC in the executive. They themselves were given an opportunity that they have; what then prevents them from giving the chairperson of the GP [Gauteng] youth league that experience? We don’t buy that explanation, and we have raised these issues with them.”
‘Lesufi does not love us’
Sangweni said the youth league would find other ways to gain the provincial leadership’s attention. It has adopted this approach due to frustration from unfulfilled promises.
“It will not end with a media briefing. We will find other creative ways to ensure we nudge the ANC leadership in the right direction and to fulfil these commitments. Nasi Ispani is a brilliant programme to address unemployment. It was unfortunate that it was given to an incompetent government.
“We have a very cordial relationship with the premier, it’s just unfortunate that whatever we discuss at the table takes time to be implemented. The premier has not implemented any of the things we have agreed on. Unfortunately, the relationship is a little bit of friction, but we still love our premier; it’s just that, as young people, we are in an abusive relationship with him. It appears that he does not love us back.”
READ NEXT: Nasi iSpani: Teacher assistant programme to be relaunched
