It is a fact that unemployment in South Africa is a crisis; more than 15 million people are unemployed. Yes, the unemployed in South Africa cannot breathe; suffocation does not last. They can’t breathe because of unfair labor policies that discriminate against them.
The unemployed cannot breathe because they are not allowed to negotiate working conditions and wages with prospective employers. The unemployed cannot breathe because the national minimum wage policy is suffocating them. This policy is the nail in the coffin for the unemployed.
The South African Human Rights Commission, which we think was created to protect the rights of the people, ignores the complaints of the unemployed. The unemployed want the rights of the unemployed to be protected.
We ask those in authority to at least protect the constitutional rights of the unemployed. We want to work and earn what we can bring to our family. Even a very low wage would help restore the dignity of those who are now hopeless.
We had a meeting in 2019 with a high official in the office of the vice president, DD Mabuza. Since the meeting, we have heard nothing, and received no reply to our emails.
We have met various business owners who agree with us, but they are afraid to support us because they can be seen as not complying with existing laws.
We are law abiding citizens and the support we need is to be helped to achieve our goal, that is the unemployed should be exempted from the labor policy and in order to get the jobseekers exemption certificate should be given.
The certificate should free us from the shackles of labor laws and allow us to enter into an agreement with the employer of our choice, at any wage and under any conditions we are ready to accept. It is our life and work – and stopping us from making our own agreements with employers is wrong, unconstitutional, inhumane and illegal.
How can the government make millions of its citizens unemployed by legally preventing employers from working for wages and under the conditions that the unemployed are willing to work, to get something instead of nothing?
We are rejected by the political parties we represent in parliament, and they expect us to vote for them. This shows that the unemployed are themselves. We can’t breathe and the law of the land is piled on us. We can’t breathe because of the people we trust.
Apparently, the only thing that is good for the unemployed, according to those who sit in parliament, is the fund that every month is a member of parliament for lunch or dinner.
This is the dark Christmas that has just passed, and the new year will not prosper as long as the unemployed cannot breathe.
How long do unemployed people have to suffer, what else can they do to attract the attention of the authorities? The only weapon in the hands of the unemployed is numbers. We need to mobilize all the unemployed. We call on all those who care about the unemployed to help us with all available resources so that all unemployed people, if possible, can find work.
Imagine if the millions of unemployed South Africans were now working. The economic growth will be huge and criminal activity will be a fraction of what it is today.
American economist Thomas Sowell said that South Africa’s unemployed know after bitter experience: “The real minimum wage is zero.”
Any employer or concerned South African who talks about allowing the unemployed to make their own decisions about their own working lives will be accused of wanting “slave labour”. Until people are ready to help the unemployed by offering them any job they can and are ready to speak out against the stupidity of those who say that low wages are “slave labor” this problem will not go away.
Politicians are not to be trusted, they are only governments for themselves, their families and their friends. Maybe the time has come for the unemployed to run the country for the benefit of all South Africans.
Xolile Mpini is the executive chairman of the Langberg Unemployment Forum.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official policy or position Mail & Guardians.