Johnathan Paoli
ANC Youth League President Collen Malatji has called on Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s Nasi Ispani initiative to be primarily focused on catering for the party’s volunteers in Gauteng.
Malatji addressed a gathering of supporters at the Alexandra Stadium on Sunday, for the ANCYL Gauteng Peter Mokaba Volunteers Launch and said that Lesufi’s initiative must focus on people from the province as well as those who support the ruling party.
“We say when you do Nasi Ispani comrade Panyaza, don’t have fear. The first people that you must deploy are volunteers of the ANC because they must reflect Nasi Ispani themselves, no one can tell people better life for all while they are ashy,” the league president said.
The Nasi Ispani is a job creation initiative launched by the Gauteng Provincial Government in June last year, with a primary goal to provide employment and training opportunities to young people within the province and focuses on creating jobs in sectors such as infrastructure maintenance, environmental protection, and community safety.
The Gauteng provincial government previously said that the initiative sought to fill 8000 vacant posts in various sectors of the provincial government, including education, health, social development, transport, infrastructure, economic development, agriculture, and the environment.
However, during the State of the Province Address in February this year, Lesufi said that the initiative had created over 90 000 employment opportunities in 12 months.
Despite the ruling party refuting claims that the programme will favour ANC members, the youth league president said it must start with party volunteers.
Malatji said the ANC volunteers are not fighting for the governing party to return to government with a blank check.
“We are saying to the president that the youth here are not doing door-to-door work for free. They are doing door-to-door because they believe the ANC will resolve their socio-economic issues,” he said.
He further threatened that if post elections, the president of the country and the party did not deliver on the demands of the youth, they would not hesitate to shut down the Union Buildings.
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