Ndebele announces much-awaited youth development programme

There is no doubt that the youth have always played a catalytic role in the development and liberation of South Africa, KZN Transport MEC, Mr S’bu Ndebele told the KwaZulu Natal parliament in Pietermaritzburg recently.

Announcing a long-awaited youth-orientated development and job-creation programme spearheaded by his Department and a government-funded youth development structure, known as Umsobomvu, Mr Ndebele recalled how the youth of 1876, primarily young women, dared to demand the freedom of choice - the right not to be assigned a husband but to choose their life partner out of their own free will.

"These were women of the Ingcugce regiment. That right is now ensured in our democratic constitution," he added.

Mr Ndebele explained: "Exactly 100 years later in 1976 the youth again produced further significant changes to our society. It is therefore our duty as adults in the seats of power to assist the future leaders - our children - in realising their full potential. No dream can be realised when the dreamer’s life has been snuffed out."

Last year, the National Cabinet approved the National Youth Development Policy Framework. This policy addresses youth development across all sectors. It endeavors to ensure that young women and men are given meaningful opportunities to reach their full potential.

At the recent Growth and Development Summit, at which the youth sector was represented, one of the agreements was to create more jobs, better jobs and decent jobs for all. It was then agreed that ranges of immediate interventions were required and agreement was reached on such challenges as the intensification of public works programmes and public investment initiatives.

"As the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport we will be the first government department to implement these agreements and also to respond to the President’s call of Vukuzenzele," he asserted.

"I am happy that after discussions with the Chief Executive Officer of the Umsobomvu Fund, Mr. Malose Kekana, we have agreed that we would intensify the involvement of the youth in our programmes and to provide training and temporal work for the unemployed youth to carryout socially useful activities.

"These programmes will equip young people with training and work experience which should enhance their ability to earn a living in the future,’ Mr. Ndebele explained.

The objectives of the Department of Transport and Umsobomvu Youth Fund Service Project can be summarized as follows:

• To enhance the Department of Transport service delivery capacity and increase efficiency by reaching out to communities through the Youth Service Project;.
• To contribute to reducing youth unemployment by selected youth in a project that enhanced their employability;
• To support the National Human Resource Strategy by providing training and work experience and opportunities to unemployed youth. The project seeks to achieve these objectives by taking participants through relevant technical training, posting them in selected regions and directorates within the department of transport and assisting them access sustainable economic opportunities at the end of this 12 months venture.

The youth will be trained by an accredited tertiary institution on both technical and administration skills. We will also engage the Road Accident Fund to provide training on their role and claims procedures so that we can also use our One Stop Shops as a place where crash victims and families can claim.

These young people will also be given an opportunity to participate in road construction and maintenance programmes to ensure that we accelerate the pace of delivery especially in rural areas. The course will also include the private sector in this programme requesting them to absorb those who successfully complete the youth service programme.

Success indicators will have to be drawn by both partners and must be objectively verified. The Memorandum of Understanding will sufficiently cover all partners’ roles and obligations to ensure that goals of this project are met.

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