Youths want ‘others to help us help ourselves’

POLOKWANE – Two members of an organisation calling themselves Ward 20 Development Committee told Review last week they are tired of struggling to deal with friends indulging in drugs, water shortages and a lack of jobs.
They feel they cannot involve the police as it is their friends that are involved in using drugs and it is because of socio-economic reasons they take drugs.
“It is because there is nothing else for them to do, as they cannot find jobs,” they explained the reason for not involving the police.
Cato* (not his real name) said the ongoing water crisis in the area they are living in is further demoralising them.
“We have tried to sell water to the residents as the water tankers delivering free water come at times which are very inconvenient to residents, old people and people who do have jobs during the day and cannot stay up until the wee hours of the night to collect water from the tankers.”
They also believe that the water crisis is deliberately kept ongoing as people are making money out of the crisis and the water tanker owners are making money too.
Cato said he has spoken to the mayor on occasion and asked that youths who have their own transport be involved in water delivery and paid by the municipality, utilising them to deliver water to the people, instead of bringing people with water tankers in from Gauteng and Tzaneen, where he said some are coming from.
“Help our local youths to be involved in the economy and earn some money,” he said.
“We as youths do not have access to the municipal structures. Stop bringing in outsiders and assist the local youth.”
He said the lack of water for extended periods of time is a social dilemma.
“You can’t expect people to live like this. In Serala View some people have not had water since March. Children have to go to school and university, and people are working but they cannot wash properly or wash their clothes. The mayor told me the youth have to access contracts for water, but there is no detailed online description of what to do to get contracts, and we cannot comprehend the process. It is like telling a dog to fetch a stick but it does not know where the stick fell.”
“The use of chrystal meth is very real. Local dealers sell it to young people in parks and abandoned buildings and houses and the youths indulge in these kind of things.
The ward councillor and committee know about this, we have discussed it with them. We are very frustrated. We advised them to do things involving the youth. If the jobs issue is addressed, drug usage will decrease as they have something to do.”
He said any projects will assist, such as roads, cleaning parks, assisting with erecting water meters and such. “Currently it is just the rich getting richer. They don’t want us to be actively involved. The ward committee is just some old people with stable jobs who do not want to give the youth a chance.”
He said youths are tired to be dependent on their parents and pleasing people all the time.
“We cannot all go to Johannesburg or Pretoria to look for jobs. The municipality here, has opportunities, and we want to help ourselves. We call on people in positions to help us reach our goals. We are not interested in politicians, just people with the right connections so we can get jobs and have financial security.”
He said the forum is not politically aligned and does not have a specific ideology, but is just there to form a platform for youths to voice their frustrations and needs, “we want others to help us help ourselves”.
nelie@nmgroup.co.za