Pretoria - Government has promised to respond to the list of concerns raised by marchers who supported the ANC Youth League's call for "economic freedom" in Pretoria today.
Incoming Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi accepted a memorandum from ANCYL President Julius Malema, in which, among others, the youth are demanding the nationalisation of the country's mines.
"This memorandum is very positive because it raises issues we are currently debating in South Africa and issues we are talking about at government level," Nxesi told the crowd who gathered at the Southern Lawns of the Union Buildings.
The issues also included unemployment and poverty, he said.
Also present to receive the document was Director General in the Presidency Cassius Lubisi.
Nxesi said government was working with the private sector and various social partners in a bid to fight poverty and unemployment. "We do this through Nedlac so most of the issues that you are raising here are issues that government is dealing with," he said.
Malema and various leaders of the league led the march, which began at the Beyers Naude Square in Johannesburg on Thursday with stops at the Chamber of Mines and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
In the memorandum handed over to Nxensi, the League and its supporters further called on the state to "speed up" the expropriation of land without compensation, end labour brokering and casualization of workers. This would require drastic changes in the country's Constitution.
They also want the Department of Higher Education to facilitate bursaries for poor young people who want to enter institutions of higher learning but are unable to do so due to lack of funding.
Many of the supporters of the march, estimated to be in the thousands, travelled on foot from Johannesburg on Thursday and arrived in Pretoria in the early hours of Friday.
Those who participated said they did so to create awareness of their economic needs and high unemployment rate. Malema said the "endurance" shown by the marchers was a "sign of the serious problem we have".
"These young people joined this long walk to economic freedom because they saw a need to raise awareness about the problems we have in our country...the answers may not be today but there is hope like there was hope in 1976," he said in reference to a youth march that took place on June 16 of 1976.
