The Presidency has acknowledged receipt of Rise Mzansi’s memorandum of grievances delivered at the Union Buildings.
This after hundreds of Rise Mzansi Youth and Student Chapters took over the streets of Pretoria at the end of September in a march to the seat of government to raise issues faced by young people.
The march was also part of the build-up to the Rise Mzansi’s national policy convention held in Johannesburg over a week ago.
The convention marked the signing of the People’s Declaration, a document outlining the party’s core principles.
The protesters rallied under a cry: “For young people of South Africa to RISE, President Ramaphosa must fall!”
They reminded the government of “failed promises” made by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he rose to the highest office.
List of grievances
Among others, they demanded:
- Quality basic education: Today, more than 81% of grade 4 learners cannot read for
meaning. - Fruitful country: Unemployment and crime have increased.
- Youth unemployment: Today, the youth unemployment rate sits at over 60%.
- Poverty-free country: 18.2-million people in South Africa live in extreme poverty, meaning that they live on less than R36.50 a day.
- End of loadshedding: Rolling blackouts have only become worse, while the price of
electricity has gone up. - Stop gender-based violence and femicide: It is still the tragic norm that over
15 000 women were assaulted in the first quarter of the year, and a total of 969
women were killed in the same period. - NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) crisis and the missing middle: It cannot be the norm that nine months into the academic calendar there are still over 11 284 appeals pending, and thousands of students have still not received allowances.
Lawrence Manaka, Rise Mzansi Youth and Student Chapters coordinator, said the the ANC-led government is desensitized to the plight of young South Africans.
“We deserve a better government. We need a reset that ushers in new leaders with new answers that will build the South Africa young people deserve,” Manaka said.
“Young people must register to vote in their numbers and use the power of their vote to
bring real, lasting change.
“This is our generational mission as warrior of freedom.”
