09/09/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/10/2021 01:46
The Minister of Employment and Labour Mr Thulas Nxesi presented his department's plans and progress in addressing youth and unemployment for the National Council of Provinces.
Mr Nxesi said that President Cyril Ramaphosa has championed the cause of youth unemployment through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which was launched in February 2020, as well as through other programmes that place the issue of youth unemployment at the centre of economic policy.
He highlighted that the objectives of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention are to work towards a South Africa in which every young person has a place to go and is absorbed into the economy.
He informed the delegates to the NCOP that as part of the reconfiguration of the department to give effect to the additional employment mandate, the Labour Activation Programmes (LAPs) funded by the UIF, were refocused to contribute directly to job creation and preservation as follows:
Youth centres have been established in Newcastle, Durban, De Aar and Cape Town. They serve as a one-stop shop both for prospective employers and for the youth to access career guidance, psychometric assessment, validation of their qualifications and effective and efficient job application and placement opportunities. Similar online services are now available at most labour centres.
Mr Nxesi encouraged the delegates to the NCOP and members of provincial legislatures to visit labour centres in their constituencies and see for themselves the kind of work the department is doing. The National Pathway Management Network is led from the Project Management Office in the Presidency and connects young people to different platforms in the network where they can build their profiles, receive directions to jobs, work experiences and income-generating programmes offered by the Department of Labour.
The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Thoko Didiza, said the debate on youth unemployment and poverty comes at a critical time where disruptions caused by Covid-19 pandemic have laid bare the inequality that exist in the country and globally.
She said that in the a few weeks' time, there will be a United Nations Food Systems Summit, which will launch new actions to deliver progress on all Sustainable Development Goals. 'As a country we have held about 12 dialogues in preparation of this summit, one of which focused on the role of youth in building and strengthening food systems,' she reported.
Ms Didiza told the NCOP that Africa has the youngest population in the world with more than 400 million young people aged between 15 and 35 and that such youthful population calls for an increase of investment in economic and social development.
On issues of youth programmes within her department, Ms Didiza said that there is a new cohort of young people who are increasingly joining the ranks of farmers and agribusiness enterprises. Although the number may be low for now, but they form a building block of the new food producers of our country. She unpacked some of the engagements they had with the young people and how they have articulated their challenges, such as economic inclusions, education and skills.
Initiative to tackle these challenges include:
Liezel Visser
9 September 2021