How South Africa's Youth Month aims to empower young people through skills development
Minister in the Presidency, responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, and her deputy, Mmapaseka "Steve" Letsike, led the launch of the Youth Month programme for the year in Soweto on Tuesday.
Image: Supplied
Skills development and an inclusive and youth-oriented economy were some of the big talking points at the launch of this year's Youth Month programme in Soweto.
The Minister in the Presidency responsible for women, youth and people with disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, her deputy, Mmapaseka "Steve" Letsike, and City of Joburg Mayor, Dada Morero, led a multi-pronged programme to kick-off Youth Month during a ceremony held at the Hector Peterson Memorial and Uncle Tom's Hall in Orlando West, Soweto.
Reflecting on the historical significance of the uprisings, renowned activist Seth Mazibuko, who is one of the few remaining faces of the uprising, announced plans from his foundation to commemorate the pivotal moment in South Africa's Struggle for freedom.
Activities will include a significant march involving eight schools that participated in the uprising, as well as the unveiling of "50 untold stories of June 16".
"Indeed, there will be a march that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the June 16 uprising, which will involve eight schools that took part in the uprisings. There is also a plan to launch the 50 untold stories of June 16, which will be stories told by some of the unsung heroes of the June 16 massacre. These include people who are not necessarily from Soweto but other parts of the province and country," Mazibuko said.
Speaking to the media ahead of the launch programme, Chikunga said preparations for the celebration, developing a skilled South African youth, is an important aspect of ensuring that young people feel included in the skills and economic endeavours to ensure they are well-prepared for the future.
"What we are going to be doing, from June this year to June next year, is to look at skills development for the future because some of the current skills may become redundant. We need to revitalise some of the skills so that young people with skills that are no longer in demand in terms of the market need, something can be done for those individuals. We have all these companies that are here who are displaying and exhibiting what they can do for young people," she stated.
The minister's sentiments were echoed by Morero, who stressed the importance of improving the city's economy in order to create jobs and business opportunities for young people.
"The generation of 1976 fought so that you and I can be free, so that we can celebrate free education in our lifetime, and we must ensure that education is free in the true sense of the word so that we can empower future generations and ensure that we have the necessary skills for young people to contribute to economic growth and generate economic growth for South Africa," Morero stated.
[email protected]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The South African
an hour ago
- The South African
Newspaper headlines from around the world - Thursday, 5 June 2025
Here are the stories that made headlines on the front pages of newspapers worldwide on Thursday, 5 June 2025. The New York Times front page reported that the G.O.P's bill would swell the U.S. debt by $2.4 trillion. The Wall Street Journal front page reported that spycraft and homegrown weapons powered Kyiv's surprise attack. The Hindustan Times' front page reported that the government has finally announced the long-postponed census. Daily Mail's front page reported that battle lines have been drawn over immigration. The Guardian front page reported that chaos fears arise over the return of winter fuel payments. If you wish to stay up-to-date – for FREE – on the latest international and South African news, then bookmark The South African website for all that plus the latest in the world of finance, sport, lifestyle – and more. Did we mention it was 100% free to read …?
The South African
an hour ago
- The South African
DSD briefs parliament on basic income support policy
The Department of Social Development aims to provide basic income support for citizens between the ages of 18-59. During a briefing with the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, DSD updated parliament on the progress of the development of the Basic Income Support Policy. 'Work on the policy has been ongoing, with the first draft of the policy having been presented to the Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster Cabinet Committee on 26 November 2024', said DSD spokesperson, Bathembu Futshane. The committee raised that more consultations were needed in order to discus the policy. It was further suggested that meetings should be held with internal stakeholders. The meeting would focus on the affordability of the policy and linkages of its proposed beneficiaries with economic opportunities. An interdepartmental workshop was held in order to communicate the directive of collaboration. According to Futshane, the workshop affirmed the need to link the policy's beneficiaries to other employment and sustainable livelihood opportunities. 'A follow up workshop will be held in June 2025. Followed by bilateral engagements with the Presidency, the Department of Labour and National Treasury', said Futshane. He said once the consultations are concluded, DSD will approach the SPCHD Cabinet Committee in the second Quarter of the 2025/26 financial year. They will request cabinet to consider the revised policy. Once the policy is approved, it will be published for public comments. Futshane said that in order to ensure stability during the consultation period, the department will consult National Treasury for the R370 Social Relief of Distress grant be extended. The grant will remain in place until the legislative process is complete. Beneficiaries will be protected from extreme poverty and vulnerability while they wait for the policy to come into effect. 'The Department, has for the interim, been granted an extension by the National Treasury to continue with this provision for the 2025/26 financial year', concluded Futshane. DO YOU THINK SOCIAL GRANTS ARE HELPING SOUTH AFRICANS OR ENCOURAGING A CULTURE OF LAZINESS? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
South African public servants, aged 35 and under face career growth barriers
There are 347,000 public servants aged 35 and younger in South Africa but systemic barriers are blocking their career growth. Image: Pexels More than 347,000 public servants, aged between 31 and 35, are employed in South Africa's public service, accounting for 27% of the government workforce but systemic issues are blocking their long-term career growth. This emerged during a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on Tuesday. The committee heard from the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Public Service Commission (PSC) as part of Youth Month engagements focused on strengthening youth development in the state. While the department noted the significant representation of younger people in administrative, finance, supply chain, and technical roles, with women forming the majority, the committee raised alarm over the low absorption of interns and short-term placements that offer little in terms of skills recognition or career advancement. "Short-term placements without certification or skills recognition do not constitute meaningful empowerment,' the committee noted. A major concern raised was the budget constraints that limit the creation of posts for youth, and the practice of assigning interns to unrelated, menial tasks with little supervision. Committee members also flagged nepotism in placements and the lack of formal exit interviews to assess programme impact. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading To address these challenges, the department is developing a policy to introduce a voluntary early retirement scheme. This would allow older public servants to leave without financial penalties, thereby creating space for younger recruits. The department will also enforce youth hiring targets in departmental performance plans and scale up partnerships. Committee chairperson, Jan de Villiers, said, "Today's presentations reflected the dual importance of efficient leave management and purposeful youth development; it is not just about employing young people; it is about creating developmental pathways for them to grow within the public sector." The committee also scrutinised the PSC's report on leave utilisation from 2020 to 2023. It revealed that capped leave, days that accrued before July 2000 now stands as a R16 billion liability, mostly within the health and education sectors. The PSC warned this liability will continue to grow due to inflation and salary increases. Members also raised concerns about high levels of sick and incapacity leave and unequal access to study leave, with senior managers often benefiting more than lower-level staff such as cleaners and clerical workers. They called for improved transparency in recruitment and leave oversight, and better demographic data to inform workforce planning. THE MERCURY
