Gauteng legislature’s OCPOL responds to youth unemployment!

BY FANELO MASEKO

e Oversight Committee on the Premier’s O ce & the Legislature (OCPOL) met with the Gauteng youth on 19 January 2023, in a bid to report back on issues and commitments made during the January 2022 Youth Workshop that addressed unemployment and poverty issues among the youth.

e event happened at Johannesburg City Hall, anked by youths from di erent regions of Gauteng such as Ekurhuleni, West Rand, Sedibeng and Tshwane. OCPOL Chairperson, Honourable Bonginkosi Dhlamini, opened the event by welcoming youth delegates including his committee members and then highlighted the main reasons for the workshop.

Dhlamini said the workshop will see the youth being presented with comprehensive feedbacks on the following issues, Gauteng Integrated Youth Development Strategy, e Youth War Room on its contribution in reducing youth unemployment, Youth Advisory Panel on the progress made in empowering the youth and also in addressing their unemployment challenges. e workshop was graced by the presence of Gauteng Premier, Honourable Panyaza Lesu who started by congratulating Gauteng matriculants for scooping the second highest percentage nationally. “We want to commit ourselves as Gauteng government to o er four-year bursaries to all top-three students from each township based schools. We want to take the payment burden o their parent’s shoulders because these are top preforming individuals” He added.

Drug and Alcohol Abuse

However, Lesu warned communities to take a leading role in eliminating drugs such as Nyaope in communities, because these drugs are the main reason for the demise of youth future. Lesu added that alcohol abuse among youth is another monster that needs to be fought by communities. “We must accept that the abuse of alcohol especially in Gauteng has reached alarming levels. So the ght against drugs and alcohol abuse should be at the forefront of the things we ght in this current administration,” He said.

He added that under his leadership, there will be no more liquor licences issued because there is a serious problem of alcohol abuse among the youth. He also ensured rst time university students that the NAFSA’s is now fully armed to tackle their nancial issues.

OCPOL Committee member, Fasiha Hassan gave some highlights on last years Youth Unemployment Workshop. She said last year’s workshop was aimed at gathering issues young people are faced with on daily basis including their suggested solutions to these challenges.

She said they as the OCPOL committee made sure that, the report received from last year’s unemployment workshop was tabled at the Gauteng Legislature, so that it is not only the Premiers o ce that is bound by the resolutions of the report but also all relevant government departments.

Unemployment Crisis

“It is a well-known fact that we have a crisis of unemployment that a ects mainly the youth in this country. Six or Seven out of Ten youths in this country particularly in Gauteng are not in any form of education, they’re not in jobs or any form of training,” Said Hassan. During last year’s workshop young people de ned their resolutions from short, medium to long term solutions and actually wanted the youths to be on the forefront of any developmental programs. “Some of the recommendations were community based projects run by young people and funded by government. ese projects must involve unemployed youths living in the same communities rather than bring people from outside these communities,” She said.

Open Job Opportunities e workshop also discussed job opportunities on many unpopular sectors such as Pick it Up, Soup Kitchens, Renewable Energy, Agriculture, EPWP and Solar Power including Skills Development Opportunities. “Young people wanted to be prioritised for opportunities available in these sectors.”

Accessibility of Information e youth also discussed how government departments needed to make necessary information available for the youths via online and also via their outreach programs so that they can be able to utilise information for their own bene t. ey also urged the Premiers o ce to ensure that Tshepo Youth Plug is accessible to all the youths including those who stay in rural parts of Gauteng. ey also highlighted the lack of opportunities for young people living with di erent disabilities who are struggling to gain access to TVET Colleges.

Feedback from Premiers o ce e Director General from the Premiers O ce, Mosley Lefatola said due to last year’s workshop, the premiers o ce has been able to appoint a civil society led Youth Advisory Panel (GYP). e panel’s responsibility is to lead the Gauteng e Chairperson of the Youth Advisory Panel (GYP), Oagile Louw said the panel was appointed last year on June 16 consisting of 16 youths from all Gauteng regions. He introduced GYP panel members, Dimpho Dikgeu who was going to do a presentation on Education & Skills Development and Ndumiso Hadebe who would deal with unemployment, entrepreneurship and other issues.

Youth Integrated Development Strategy 2030 (GYIDS) and also provide oversight and advocacy including advise and recommendations to the Gauteng Premier on relevant developmental projects for the youth.

He said the Gauteng Executive Council has so far managed to sign delivery agreements with relevant departments in a bid to prioritise the youth with regards to unemployment and other related youth challenges. ey have also set targets with departments so that they can speed up their focus on townships and informal settlements in a bid to improve the quality of life for youths.

Quality Education Skills & Training

GYP panel member, Dimpho Likgeu said the issue of youth unemployment does not begin when young people are looking for jobs, but it begins at the access of quality education from primary school level. “We need to nd out how easy or di cult it is for the youth to access quality education from primary, secondary and tertiary levels.” e education system is there to prepare the youth for employment and when the youth is not adequately educated, obviously there will be issues when it comes to employment,” She said. Also the provincial education need to align itself with the current economic opportunities available in the province. “TVET colleges and other institutions of higher education needs to align with these opportunities so that they youth is employable a er leaving these institutions.” She also stressed the important of ensuring that young people living with disabilities also have adequate access to quality education from primary level up to tertiary. “ e number of learners with disabilities who are still able to access education until matric is very low and we need to focus on that and ensure that these youths are also allowed access to quality education,” She concluded.

Economic Transformation, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation

Another GYP panel member, Ndumiso Hadebe said what they have observed is that Gauteng province has a developmental challenge among the youth with regards to access to information, communication, infrastructure and technology gap between youths in rural Gauteng and those in urban parts of the province. “We have identi ed that most are not in employment, education and training due to the lack of access to relevant information. erefore, government departments need to ensure that youths from rural parts of Gauteng also have access to relevant information especially about learnerships, jobs and entrepreneurship. He added that the issue of 30% set aside for youths in businesses need to be revisited and strengthened so that those that are in business may be able to ourish and also be able to create employment opportunities for other youth. “ e issue of trading must also be encouraged among the youth to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) so that they can run businesses that are ready to export goods to other countries.” e youth must also be equipped to deal issues of mental health and well-being to ensure that as young entrepreneurs, they are able to implement projects accurately and deliver on time so that their businesses can grow. “With these regard, we have established Youth Units in all departments and municipalities where the youth will be advised on whatever issues they encounter on their way to success.”

He said they will develop a report on the ‘State of Youth’ in Gauteng and also develop the ‘Gauteng Youth Charter’ that will list the non-negotiables of young people towards Gauteng government. “We have also managed to deploy members of the panel to di erent departments for monitoring and evaluation purpose, to ensure that government departments do not overlook the youth needs.”

Tshepo Youth Plug

Speaking with regards to Tshepo Youth Plug, the Director General, Mosley Lefatola said the GYP has criticised some of their programs and suggested a change to the ‘Tshepo 1Million’ name into ‘Tshepo Youth Plug’ in which the premiers o ce listened.

He added that they have so far been able to train 98 young people in ICT including the Ninety Six thousand, six hundred youths who were trained on various set of skills development program. “We are also planning to initiate a Youth Department that will operate inside the Gauteng Department of Education. “We also provide bursaries for leaners to study at universities and also have a work experience program that equip youths with necessary workplace skills,” He said. He added that they have noted that Gauteng youths are very entrepreneurial and techno savvy and due to this, they will focus on supporting youth owned business through the Central Supplier Database so that youth businesses can also be prioritised.

In addition, a total of 11 thousand jobs were created by di erent departments of Gauteng. We also focusing on Tshwane Special Economic Zone with a special focus on the Automotive Sector ensuring that small automotive businesses from around Tshwane townships are supported.

Youth Discussions

During discussions from the youth, Charmaine Daniels from Esteerous in Pretoria said most of the youth from his area who applied for the NEFSA’s did not get any nancial support. She said they stay in an informal settlement where there are no government services but with drug problems rife in the area. She also urged the government to support None pro t Organisations (NPO’s) so that they can be able to deal with drug problems in communities.

Another youth, Annie Ramokhoase from Sedibeng Youth Sector Parliament, complained about the exclusion of the Z83 application form as one of the issues that prevents young people from accessing government jobs. “Z83 is one documents halting young people from getting employed so it needs to be scrapped,” She said.

“ ere must be a collaboration between Tshepo Youth Plug and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) because their activities are similar while the NYDA is readily accessible in all Gauteng townships. “Young people must be able to access Tshepo Youth Plug services from their local NYDA o ces,” She added.

Another young person, Chief Zheiven Pearce who greeted the crowds with his indigenous Khoi Khoi language said, he was here last year and nothing has changed so far because the youth is still hooked on drugs. He said government must focus on decolonising South Africa because that’s where all youth problems start. “I personally cannot ll a NEFSA’s, NEF, or Z83 form because my Khoi Khoi race is not listed on these forms. is country does not recognise the indigenous youths like myself”.

Kopano Polisa said he appreciates the e orts made by government and the GYP in ensuring that the youth is equipped with knowledge because information is power that will enable the youth to move forward. However, he urged the government to also put its focus on catering for other regions of Gauteng so that more youths get to bene t.

Sinethemba Jikijela who is a graduate of Public Administration and Management said would like the 35 year age limit to qualify as a youth to be scrapped because she will soon turn 30 and still unemployed. “It’s very di cult for older people to get jobs in this country, So I am worried that should I turn 35 before getting employed, I will struggle even harder to be employed,” She added.

Mandla Maqwazima said there seems of a repetition of promises and just promises by the government to the youth. He said government o cials need to do inspections of youth projects initiated in townships because there are many corrupt middle men who are greedy operating on these youth projects. “Whenever a budget has been allocated for a particular project, there needs to be an oversight and monitoring happening on that same project, because in most cases, resources meant for the youth, actually never reach their intended bene ciaries,” He said.

A er the deliberations from the youths, the OCPOL Chairperson, Bonginkosi Dhlamini and committee members were adamant that the next feedback session should not be all talk, but actual quanti able results of how jobs and funding was created for the youth in the di erent regions of Gauteng. e committee will keep monitoring and evaluating progress through their scheduled committee meetings.