Barkly West youths are demanding that 500 of them be given jobs. Picture: Supplied
A GROUP of youths gathered outside Dikgatlong Municipality in Barkly West on Wednesday as they are desperate for work and are also protesting against alleged corruption at the municipality.
They are demanding that 500 young people be employed on part-time projects including the cleaning of pleasure resorts and dumping sites and assisting the municipality in rendering sorely needed services.
A representative for the youths, Lefa Leeuw, stated that no one was available at the municipal offices to listen to their concerns.
"We were informed that the mayor and municipal manager are not available. We will return to the municipality next week to hand over a memorandum to prioritise youth employment,” said Leeuw.
“Youths must be hired by the municipality. Our people are unemployed and have no means of sustaining themselves. They have no money to register their children for school next year, while the community is suffering because we have no access to clean drinking water, electricity or sanitation. The town and location is dirty and no services are being provided."
Leeuw was aggrieved that a sanitation truck was apparently hired from a service provider at a cost of R20,000 per day.
“Municipal officials are getting paid huge salaries but are not doing any work. Money allocated for services are not being accounted for at Dikgatlong Municipality.”
Leeuw believed that the money for the sanitation truck would be better invested in employing locals.
“At a cost of R20,000 per day the municipality is paying the service provider from outside the Province a total of R100,000 per month. This money should instead be shared among the 500 youths to pay them for doing the municipality’s work. The youths don’t want handouts and social grants, they are prepared to work for an income.”
Meanwhile , the spokesperson for the Barkly West Community Crime Forum, Christopher Minnies, said they have not received any feedback after handing over memorandums last week regarding the spike in violent crimes in the area.
"We will confront these parties on Tuesday, November 17. We are not playing, our youth must be hired because there is too much money that goes out of the municipality unaccounted for. The voice of the youth must be heard."
The municipality could not be reached for comment.