About 100 of Ugu District’s unemployed teachers are holding a sit-in at the Department of Education (DOE) in Port Shepstone from early this morning.

The sit-in comprises holding placards, submitting a memorandum and staying peacefully outside the DoE office.

The unemployed graduates wanted to submit a memorandum to the director of the department, who was said to be in a meeting.

A representative, Mdu Nyuswa, said they have been unemployed for years and have resorted to finding other ways of earning a living.

Nyuswa said he graduated in 2021 but has been unable to get a job, and he now drives taxis to feed his family.

The one grievance is that they have been unemployed for years.

They also said that some of the employed teachers are not from the district, meaning that the district does not prioritise their own.

Nyuswa said they were told that they need to update their details on the database.

He said the updates have been done but it has been years of unemployment.

Nompumelelo Ndelu said she has been unemployed for eight years, yet she is the breadwinner at home.

She said the reason for the sit-in is to urge the department to hire them.

“Another issue is that some people get jobs just after they have graduated but here we are still sitting at home after years and years. All we want is jobs, our families depend on us but we have nothing to give because we are not working.”

The department’s Director Mfundi Sibiya was unavailable to receive the memo, as he was in a meeting in Pietermaritzburg.

They handed over the memo to other department officials who said they could not comment or speak to the media.

Ndelu said she spoke to Sibiya on the phone and an agreement was reached to meet next Monday.

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