The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Eastern Cape expresses its unequivocal support for the Jobs for Youth Provincial march led by the Young Communist League in the Eastern Cape and COSATU Young Workers Forum in partnership with other components of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA).

This march highlights the plight of youth who currently face high levels of unemployment. The convening of an Eastern Cape Jobs for Youth Provincial march is a resolution of a bilateral meeting between the provincial Young Communist League of South Africa and COSATU Young Workers Forum where the state of youth unemployment in the country and in our province was discussed following the release of the First Quarter: Quarterly Labour Force Survey of 2022.

The provincial march demands an urgent and immediate implementation of a social compact of the public and private sectors to create decent jobs particularly for young people of our province, that have a 62,6% unemployment rate with only about 34% of all economically active youth being in employed in the Eastern Cape.

This march is supported by the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) and is expected to draw all working-class youth across the Eastern Cape from all political organisations, civil society, youth owned SMME’s (Small, Micro & Medium Enterprises), faith-based youth organizations, etc. The march is a call for practical action from our provincial government and business fraternity.

The memorandum of demands of the working-class youth will be delivered to the Premier of the Eastern Cape and the Eastern Cape Business fraternity at the Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape in Bhisho on the 24th of June 2022.

The details of the march are as follows:

Date: 24 June 2022

Time: 08h00

Assembly point: Victoria Ground (eQonce)

Handing over of memorandum: Premier’s Office, Bhisho

Issued by COSATU Eastern Cape

Contacts:

Provincial Secretary

Mkhawuleli Maleki

082 339 5482