ANC in Soweto: 'Sometimes we go to bed on empty stomachs', says suffering resident
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe embarked on the ANC's campaign trail in Soweto's Diepkloof section.
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe. Picture: Thabiso Goba/ Eyewitness News.
JOHANNESBURG - Some Soweto residents have complained to African National Congress (ANC) leadership about growing poverty and unemployment gripping the community.
On Friday, former president Kgalema Motlanthe embarked on the governing party's campaign trail in Soweto's Diepkloof section.
Motlanthe visited homes to understand the community’s plight ahead of the general elections.
The ANC received a warm welcome from Diepkloof residents.
However, residents were frank and highlighted their struggles including crime, poverty and unemployment.
Twenty-seven-year-old Joyce Phiri says it has been more than 11 years since matriculated, and has had no luck getting a job.
“We are knocking on a lot of doors, but we don’t get opportunities. It hurts because I passed with a bachelor's exemption and a few distinctions.”
Sixty-nine-year-old pensioner Smangele Mbatha-Makhubo says since she retired, her family now depends only on her old-age grant.
“There are times when we go to bed hungry. The grant money is too little to feed all of us, it would be better if the children got jobs, one would contribute flour and the other sugar and we would all come together.”
ANC Gauteng chairperson and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has advised unemployed youth to take advantage of the provincial government’s Nasi Ispani initiative.