Premier Panyaza Lesufi promised the Gauteng Youth Brigade members permanent jobs when their contracts expired last month.
“All we want is what [Panyaza] Lesufi promised us,” said Gauteng youth, furious over empty promises made by Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who had told them they would get permanent jobs at various schools.
Gauteng Youth Brigade members, who had worked as teaching assistants in schools, took their frustrations and complaints to the premier’s office in the Johannesburg CBD on Wednesday.
Gustavo Monjane, one of the 32 000 brigade members, said they wanted the premier to fulfil his promises.
He told City Press that if Lesufi had responded to their calls and emails, there would not have been protests.
Monjane said the premier met them in February this year at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, where he promised them permanent jobs after their contracts were renewed in January.
Lesufi said then:
As you leave this building today, you must know when you arrive home and look at your son and daughter, you must say to them: ‘Your future is guaranteed because of the government of Gauteng.’ And as you leave this place today, when you go to your house and look at your grandmother and father, you will say to them: ‘The money that you used to lend me, keep it for yourself. I will provide for my children and my family.
He added that their contracts were renewed after they expired in December. Then he told them that when the contracts expired at the end of last month, they would have permanent jobs.
Monjane said:
Before our contracts ended, we took the memorandum to the Union Buildings. However, we were told to wait because the president was not there to receive it due to the Cabinet being sworn-in. We waited, then we went back. All we got was a message of acknowledgement that our memorandum was received. Later in the month [July], we called the premier’s office, but we were always told that he was in meetings and could not speak to us.
Monjane said they then decided to take to the streets. The first protest was last Friday at the department of education offices in Pretoria, where they were shot at with rubber bullets by police. He said that their only way of communication with the department was through the EFF and Umkhonto weSizwe Party. Their meetings with Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube were always postponed.
The premier’s silence was frustrating because they had no jobs since contracts have expired. “With the opportunity gone, there are many of us and all youth who are unemployed,” said Monjane.
READ: ‘Lesufi’s gimmicks failed’, says Gauteng DA leader Solly Msimanga
In a statement on Wednesday, the DA’s Gauteng shadow MEC for education, Sergio Isa dos Santos, said that the party would refer the management of the Nasi iSpani programme and Lesufi’s promises to the Public Protector for an investigation.
“Governing a province such as Gauteng requires responsible leadership and Lesufi’s irresponsible actions are causing more problems than solutions for the provincial government. Government cannot be managed according to the whims of opportunism and Lesufi must account for the abuse of taxpayers’ money for his failed Nasi iSpani programme,” said dos Santos.
Despite several attempts, Lesufi and his office did not respond to a request for comment.
Zamokuhle Ndawonde
www.news24.com
