A showdown is brewing between the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and eThekwini Municipality over youth employment.
The ANCYL has rejected the city's response to their memorandum of demands submitted earlier this month and is now threatening a hard-hitting response. This includes a planned confrontation at the city's upcoming council meeting.
The standoff follows a recent march to City Hall where the ANCYL called on the municipality to provide more jobs for youth.
The city responded by outlining measures it has taken to address the issue. "The Memorandum states that at metro police there are 710 vacancies. The accurate information is that there are now 365 after a massive recruitment drive of about 500 officers and 80% being youth," reads one of the city's responses to the ANCYL.
However, the ANCYL has rejected this.
"We disagree with their numbers and their response. Our anger is based on what we know about the number of vacancies within the city,“ ANCYL spokesperson Zithulele Ndlela told IOL.
“We are fully aware of the high number of vacancies and it is based on our information that we reject their response as lies and statements which lack substance. Based on this, we met with our branch executive committees and leadership and decided on a way forward to address how the city responded to us. We reject their response and will provide more details on our course of action at our media briefing on Friday."
A recent report by the Durban EDGE revealed there are currently 359,000 unemployed youth in eThekwini - an increase of 4000 from previous numbers.
IOL NEWS