As the country’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2022, several unemployed youth have given up on prospects of ever getting a job.
One of them is Lindiwe Nteo, who holds a BA Law degree from North West University. She went on to do an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand, which she completed in 2020.
Speaking to Sowetan in March, Nteo, 26, said she has struggled to find employment and her situation has not changed. She said she had been applying to law firms and public sector organisations since last year with no success.
In March, she was among thousands of youth who flocked to the SAPS Gauteng provincial head office in Parktown, Johannesburg, to submit applications for the 2022 police intake.
Nteo applied for a graduate programme for entry-level constables. She said she has not received a response since then.
She said she has stopped applying for jobs at law firms.
“I am still applying for jobs at government departments. I have reached a point were I have stopped applying at law firms. I feel like that is a no-go area for me. Most of the jobs require a driver’s licence and ownership of a car. I do not have a car.
“Other jobs require the applicant to be fluent in English and Afrikaans and I cannot speak Afrikaans. I feel like these requirements exclude people from disadvantaged communities,’’ said Nteo.
Stats SA yesterday announced that the unemployment rate is 33.9 %, down from the 34.5% recorded in the previous quarter.
Nteo said she has been submitting roughly four physical and five online applications a day.
She gets money to apply for jobs from her mother, a domestic worker.
“I went door-to-door submitting my CVs at different law firms in Vereeniging. I would spend around R150 a day including on food. For online applications I would buy a 1GB data bundle every day for R60. I have not been getting responses.
“This is really frustrating. It makes me lose hope. I think I have some kind of bad luck. I do not know what else to think. Sometimes I think about changing careers because not getting a job is depressing. I think about going into the health industry, going to a college and try to get a job through practicals. I just want to take care of my mother,’’ said Nteo.
Anita Mnguni, 25, from Meadowlands, Soweto, who holds a diploma in hospitality, said she has been making four online applications a day but never gets feedback.
“I became sad when I applied and I went for an interview in August last year. I was told I would get feedback after three weeks but I have not received any response. It hurts a lot not to get a job. I want to get a job so that I can help my mother take care of my siblings,” she said.
Gaopalelwe Melesi, 31, of Mahikeng, North West, said he gets frustrated every time he has to apply for a job because he has to find money to make copies and then go to the police station to certify documents.
He holds a national diploma in human resources obtained in 2013. He has only done internships and has never been permanently employed.
“For one application, I could spend about R100. Most jobs require that one must have a driver's licence and I only got one in July,” he said.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
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