A 23-year-old South African woman, Slindokuhle Khoza, has recalled her unexpected encounter with President Cyril Ramaphosa in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg.
According to her, during one of the President’s weekend walks on the streets for election campaigns, he noticed her in the crowd and called her over.
When Slindokuhle excitedly rushed over, he inquired about her background and employment status, to which she replied that she was unemployed. To her shock and disappointment, President Ramaphosa advised her to “keep searching.”
“I was quite shocked [when he called me over]. I don’t know how I wanted the conversation to go. All that ran through my head was that the president wants to speak to me,” she recounted.
The encounter, captured in a viral video, stirred reactions online. Slindokuhle said she had hoped for a positive outcome after meeting the President, but was rather crushed by his response.
“I thought I could get something like a job from the conversation with him. Now looking back at the video, I can’t help but get irritated because maybe I could have asked him for help or asked him to do something.
“I regret the way that conversation went. I felt disappointed when he said I should keep looking because I had been looking and I told him that. I was crushed,” she recollected.
A Communication graduate from North West University, Slindokuhle has struggled to find work despite actively seeking employment. She expressed frustration over relying on her mother’s support for herself and her siblings.
“I started applying way before I graduated but even that didn’t help because I kept getting rejection responses. They would say that my CV was impressive but I would get no job,” said the first-born of four children raised by a single mother.
“It’s pointless to have a degree and still heavily rely on your mother for everything. It’s not nice especially because she still needs to take care of my three younger siblings,” she said.