KEETMANSHOOP - Unemployed youth at Keetmanshoop say struggle kids are like the country’s spoilt child who is given whatever she/he demands at the expense of others.
The frustrated unemployed youth, who have set up a tent in front of //Kharas governor Lucia Basson’s office in protest over what they term unsatisfactory response by the Prime Minister (PM) Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila in which they had called for the removal of struggle kids who were given preferential treatment and employed as cleaners at various schools and offices in the region.
During a meeting between the unemployed youth and the regional leadership on Tuesday, the youth said it is unfair that their pleas are not being heard and attended to while government is quick to attend to the needs of struggle kids when they demand for certain things.
The meeting was at some point emotional as the youth narrated their struggles with some breaking down and shedding tears as they shared their daily struggles to ensure they survive another day.
One of the unemployed youths Sophia Motinga said while government is quick to jump to the rescue of struggle kids for whatever reason, there are those people living in worse off conditions than the struggle kids that need urgent help but never get such assistance.
“We have 15-year olds cohabiting with elder man because their fathers, mothers or family members are unable to provide for them because they are unemployed and poor, but when struggle kids demand something, government jumps, struggle kids are spoilt because they can do as they want,” she said.
Joseph Isaacks opined that the way the Prime Minister reasoned in her response to the groups petition shows that she lives in a bubble and does not know the conditions of the people in the south, and therefore the PM should come and see how people languish in extreme poverty.
“The PM’s narrative of why struggle kids are getting jobs at the expense of others is provocative, we live in far worse conditions here, but now you leave these people to languish in poverty and deny them job opportunities. This shows that the PM is narrow minded and needs to learn more on the living conditions of people here,” he said.
Isaacks added that while there was an eviction notice sent to the group asking them to remove their tent, the tent according to him is providing an even better living space than where most of the unemployed youth live in the informal settlements, and he urged the leaders present to better the youth’s living conditions first if they want to remove them from the tent.
He said it is unfair that struggle kids get jobs by threatening government and doing things in a chaotic way, but other unemployed youth who are having a passive protest are being told to shut up and go home.
Easter Isaack maintained the group’s demands to have an audience with the PM still stands and they will not move until she grants them an audience to talk about issues affecting them.
“Our demands are very clear, we want audience with the Prime Minister, that is it,” he said.
The meeting finally resolved that the group will with the assistance of the governor’s office write another letter to the Prime Minister’s office to seek audience with her.