COPE says South Africans are facing a crisis of unemployment, poverty, hunger, and economic despair [SOUND]

# The Congress of the People is calling for an urgent, accelerated national economic recovery programme focused on job creation, youth entrepreneurship, township and rural economies and infrastructure rollout. A total of 345-thousand jobs were lost between January and March this year. COPE’s acting national chairperson, Pakes Dikgetsi, says the collapse of employment in the construction and service sectors is particularly alarming, as these sectors traditionally absorb large numbers of young people and low-skilled workers: