Against a backdrop of rising national unemployment, Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli has identified the June 30 protests as a critical symptom of the scarcity of work.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli says the huge turnout of working-age adults during business hours at the June 30 marches across the province highlights issues around unemployment and economic exclusion.
“The scale of their presence in the streets during normal working hours is not merely a logistical observation. It is a signal. It tells us something about the depth of unemployment and economic exclusion that exist in our communities,” Ntuli said, adding that employed people are not ordinarily available in such numbers on a Tuesday morning.
He noted that the frustration that drove people to march is not simply about undocumented migrants, but at its root about competition for scarce work, pressure on housing, schooling, healthcare, and public safety. He added that it also reflects communities that have waited too long for an economy that includes them.
“It is against this background that under our programme, Engangeni Ngesango Iyafohla, I’ve convened a special roundtable, but now we’ll convene another one which will be about local economic development as early as next week. With a specific and deliberate focus on spaza shops,” Ntuli said.
