The youth unemployment crisis in South Africa has reached the tipping point. Recent reports by Statistics South Africa show that the unemployment rate has increased by 0.1%. With youth making up about 70% of the unemployed group in the country the situation seems dire for the country, as the youth are the cornerstone of South Africa's prosperity in the future.
As such the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) is supporting the Youth March as organised for 27 and 28 October 2011 by the African National Congress Youth League. The Youth March raises salient issues on youth development including calling for the strengthening and capitalisation of youth development programmes, employment and training of young people and provision of opportunities for young entrepreneurs. Although the NYDA will not be making any financial contribution towards the march, we invite young people who are either unemployed, underemployed and in business to participate in the march.
The NYDA has always maintained that if any organisation including the ANCYL galvanises support and pushes the agenda of youth development, we will as the NYDA support it. We hope the Youth March will be peaceful and succeed in drawing South Africa's attention to the youth unemployment crisis and motivate more sectors to contribute to the development of young people.
Furthermore we make a clarion call to all sectors of society to prioritise youth development and allocate resources for this noble cause. Once finalised, these organisations should use the NYDA developed Integrated Youth Development Strategy to guide their youth development programmes.
As the NYDA, we have made great strides in improving the lives of young people however more remains to be done by all sectors. Contributions by the NYDA include approving R66, 4 million worth of loans to young entrepreneurs and sourcing business opportunities worth over R142 million through the Business Opportunities Support Service. About 5, 277 business consultancy services vouchers were issued to youth for business development services including for company registrations, tendering and marketing support.
In addition, the NYDA has also provided career guidance to over 446, 000 young people (a target exceeded by about 11% in the 2010/2011 financial year) and trained over 150, 000 including through the entrepreneurship and job preparedness training programmes and the National Youth Service programme. In addition over 61, 341 jobs have been sustained through various NYDA programmes including the entrepreneurship and skills development programmes.
The NYDA remains committed to form partnerships with all organisations and youth formations to find sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by our youth.
Statement issued by Siyabonga Magadla, National Youth Development Agency, October 25 2011
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