Keetmanshoop residents to petition over unemployment

KEETMANSHOOP, 07 NOV – Residents of Keetmanshoop in the //Kharas Region plan to stage a peaceful demonstration over unemployed youth at the town and in the region here on Friday.
This came out in a community meeting held in the Krönlein residential area on Tuesday, attended by around 60 people and chaired by local resident Maxie Minnaar.
The group agreed to hand over a petition detailing their concerns to //Karas Governor, Lucia Basson.
They expressed disappointment that people from other regions are being employed in the South while the people here are unemployed.
“Why do they have to bring people from outside, my son has qualifications and has been applying for years now and no reply on all those applications in the government, why must it always be someone from outside,” questioned one elder at the meeting.
The group claimed that the public recruitment system excludes them. If they have to apply for jobs in other regions, there is an indigenous language requirement, according to the meeting, but if posts are advertised in the South, that requirement is not there.
The residents also queried why the government is now employing the ‘struggle kids’ after reports that there is no money and that new government posts would be frozen.
“First they told us there is no money, that is why many posts were frozen, now where did the money come from for the placing of the ‘struggle kids’ and without any interviews,” said one youth.
The group felt that it is not fair for the ‘struggle kids’ to be handed jobs while others have to go to school, study, look for work, apply and undergo interviews before being employed.
They condemned the common phrase thrown around that “the people from the South are lazy”.
“We are not lazy, we are hardworking people,” pronounced one young man.
Another meeting will be held in the Tseiblaagte residential area on Thursday to mobilise people ahead of the planned demonstration.
(NAMPA)