Scores of unemployed young people gathered in Bloemfontein on Monday (30/6) for a youth-led march marking the end of Youth Month. 

The demonstrators, led by the Free State ANCYL, marched from the ANC headquarters to the OR Tambo building, where they handed over a memorandum of demands to the Office of the Premier.

Scores of young unemployed people in the Free State picketing outside ANC provincial headquarters in Bloemfontein. Photo: Kekeletso Mosebetsi

Addressing the crowd, ANCYL Free State Chairperson Junior Lehlehla delivered an unapologetic speech highlighting the scale of the crisis. 

“We are here to demand. We will not stop until we see real, concrete results on the ground.

“We demand jobs, we demand jobs, and we demand jobs! We demand economic freedom for the youth of Free State, and we want it now, not later,” declared Lehlehla.

He emphasised that the protest was not symbolic but rather a call to urgent action, adding that the dire levels of youth unemployment are the result of outdated economic policies.

“The 30th of June, comrades, marks the turning point. The catastrophic youth unemployment is not an accident. 

“It is a man-made betrayal engineered by outdated conservative economic policies that have abandoned the majority of young people without employment. Today, comrades, we boldly declare that unemployment must be declared a disaster in this province.”

Lehlehla cited statistics showing that 63.5% of youth in the Free State are unemployed. Approximately 445,000 young people are neither in employment, education, nor training. 

He warned that the province is sitting on a ticking time bomb, as frustration continues to mount among young people. He called for immediate intervention measures, urging the Free State Executive Council to table an adjustment budget by 30 August 2025. 

Among the demands were:

• an emergency allocation of R3 billion to create 50,000 immediate job opportunities for youth;
• the creation of 150,000 youth jobs by 2027;
• the establishment of a R5 billion youth industrial fund; and
• the introduction of public employment skills programmes, with decent wages (the current EPWP programmes, paying R1,500 per month, were not welcome).

“This is a peaceful march, but we don’t know what will happen when young people lose patience,” Lehlehla warned, stressing the urgency of the situation.

Lehlehla expressed disappointment that the provincial ANC leadership was absent from the event, stating that their absence was “noted” by the youth who had expected solidarity and support. The premier and MECs were given 14 days to reply to the memorandum.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi mvh