KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza says capacitating young people to create jobs for themselves and empower others will stem the tide of unemployment.
“We must always emphasise that when we give skills to the youth we expect them to create jobs and be employers themselves,” Khoza said.
Speaking at the opening of the National Youth Development Forum (NYDF) meeting held in Hilton, outside Pietermaritzburg, Khoza said the department is working diligently and selflessly to stem the tide of unemployment by ensuring that many young people were enrolled to youth academies or centres.
The NYDF is a consultative forum made up of youth coordinators from all provinces. The forum is in the province to deliberate on National Youth Policy issues, develop strategies to respond to challenges faced by young people in the country, and conduct site visits to youth development projects in KwaZulu-Natal, to benchmark on department best practices.
A number of Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) funded by the department are currently conducting dialogues with young people in areas affected by the recent spate of violence, to gain deeper insights into the challenges faced by young people in general.
Khoza said the formal sitting of the NYDF in the province, marks the beginning in respect of sharing ideas on how the Department of Social Development should help vulnerable youth out of poverty.
She said it is imperative for all three spheres of government to have collaborative and cooperative spirit, in order to succeed in youth development.
“We have many youth whose lives and future get destroyed by drugs. The recent unrests have set us backwards [and] led to the death of more than 300 people. A lot of people lost their livelihoods as the shopping malls and centres were ransacked by mobs,” Khoza said.
Khoza reiterated that the department remained the heartbeat of government, as it is always the first port of call to deal with poverty and disasters.
“We need to understand what encouraged youth people to loot and how that energy can be channelled towards something that can benefit them. We know that our economy may sustain longer term damage if domestic and international investors view the unrests as a sign that the country is not a safe destination for their capital,” the MEC said.
She also stressed a need to come up with strategies to develop the youth [and] to provide them with entrepreneurial skill to be job creators, as opposed to job seekers.
Khoza added that with successes shown by two Youth Development Academies and centres in the province, she is adamant that the other three academies to be opened would make a huge difference.
“The riots exposed our country’s underlying economic problems, including high rate of unemployment and poverty. As the NYDF, we need to up the ante to ensure our strategies lift young people from poverty and unemployment,” she said.
She further emphasised that capacitating young people to create jobs for themselves and move away from dependency syndrome or thinking about being employed, is the only solution.
“We must always emphasise that when we give skills to the youth, we expect them to create jobs and be employers themselves.” – SAnews.gov.za
