Cape Town - A queue of thousands of people snaked all along the Athlone Stadium as job-seekers gathered from across the city to find employment – painting a grim picture of the unemployment crisis affecting the metro.
The people were provided with transport from various pick-up points across the city for the Jobs Fair and service delivery initiative hosted by the Department of Employment and Labour, in collaboration with the City, at the Athlone Stadium.
The two-day fair started yesterday and will continue today from 8am to 4pm.
An initiative of the department’s public employment services branch, it aims to bring job-seekers closer to prospective employers or provide learning opportunities.
Iviwe Komani, 24, from Khayelitsha, said she had been unemployed for a year: “I heard they’re registering for employment so I came since I’m doing nothing, so I had to come and apply.”
Komani said she was able to find out more about available learnerships and applications to colleges and universities.
“It’s very difficult (being unemployed) because everything costs money … It (the Jobs Fair) is bringing hope.”
Deputy director of Labour Market Information, Statistics and Planning at the provincial office, Venessa Cupido, said job-seekers were able to register with the department, access career counselling and get help on how to structure CVs.
There were also about 45 exhibitors from banks, universities and colleges, and various departments and sectors, to assist interested job-seekers.
Available vacancies were displayed on a large screen where career counsellors were stationed.
Cupido said they catered for 4 000 people over the two days.