Section 2 demands feedback on youth unemployment

Local lobby group, the Advocates for the Supremacy of the Constitution has called on Prime Minister Ntsokoane Matekane to urgently account to the nation on what has transpired since his government declared youth unemployment a national crisis last year.

In a recent statement, the organisation, known as SECTION 2, reminded government of thisdeclaration, arguing it cannot be business as usual while youth unemployment remains high in the country.

SECTION 2 also noted that the declaration, coupled with ambitious promises, succeeded in restoring calm, but unfortunately, this has not translated into jobs.

“Beyond its legality, events since the declaration’s publication confirm our concern that it was never designed as a serious intervention to address youth unemployment. Rather, it functioned as a political response to rising pressure from young people who were on the verge of mass protest,” it said.

SECTION 2 added that its gravest concern is that while the youth are told to wait patiently under a declared “disaster”, the government continues to operate based on patronage.

Recruitment into the public service and foreign postings is increasingly opaque and bypasses the constitutional right of every Mosotho to have access, on general terms of equality, to the public service, as guaranteed under Section 20of the constitution of Lesotho, the organisationalleged.