DESPERATE TIMES: Athol Trollip and Bay councillor Sandile Rwexwana, right, accompany Nontuthuzelo Bhiko to the Department of Labour. Picture: ROCHELLE DE KOCK
‘I can do anything. I can cook, I can clean, I can look after kids . . . I want any job’
NONTUTHUZELO Bhiko is from Port Elizabeth’s Kwazakhele township and has battled for 15 years to find a proper job. With four mouths to feed, the desperate 38-year-old mother has submitted scores of job applications over the years – but she has yet to receive any feedback.
She is one of thousands of Nelson Mandela Bay residents who rely on state grants just to put food on the table, and at times even that money is not enough.
The metro has an unemployment rate of 36%.
“Sometimes we go to sleep with empty stomachs,” Bhiko said outside the Port Elizabeth Department of Labour office yesterday.
A member of the DA’s Ngqura constituency, she was accompanied by Bay mayoral candidate Athol Trollip to the office, where she submitted all her details in the hope of finally getting a job.
Her highest qualification is matric. “There are 20 of us at home and there’s only one person working – that is my sister,” Bhiko said.
“I submitted my CV to Transnet, the municipality, Telkom, everywhere, but there is nothing.
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