A young person from Moruleng Township has taken to entrepreneurship in the face of high unemployment in the province. Young people in Rustenburg have defended themselves against bold and controversial claims recently made by ANC chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, who stated that the youth are too lazy to look for jobs. Mantashe’s assertions come amid service delivery challenges that have resulted in frustration in the North West Province.
Last week, while speaking to the SABC, Mantashe said the country’s youth are too lazy to look for jobs and want the government to provide these jobs for them. In Moruleng township, where President Cyril Ramaphosa gave his keynote address in celebration of the ANC’s 114th anniversary on Saturday, young people told of the pain of being unemployed while attempting to find new ways of making a living. Lebogang Kgosi, 25, said that that efforts to find a job and the high crime levels in Northam forced him to relocate to Moruleng.
He now makes R650 a day by using a rented bicycle as a mode of transport for community members looking for alternative transport to carry their groceries or to make their clinic appointments. His rented bicycle, which has been turned into a rickshaw, has become an added mode of transport over and above the taxis used by commuters in the township. “Before moving to Moruleng, I used to transport people with their groceries to and from the shops in Northam, but (I had to stop) because of crime and continuous muggings,” he said.
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Kgosi revealed that, despite constant clashes with the taxi industry, things are better in Moruleng than they were in Northam. “It is not because we do not want jobs, but there are no jobs, and because there are no jobs, we do what we can to make a living, ” this young transport business owner added. Maruping Chauke (25) says he makes at least R100 a day working on a patch of road that is riddled with potholes in Mogwase, outside Rustenburg.
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