THIS month we celebrate Youth Month and as a community we have an inherent responsibility to cultivate and develop our youth to build a better economic future.
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) is committed to youth development and the economic freedom of our young entrepreneurs. Youth Month is however about more than just celebrating a public holiday and enjoying a day off work. The date of June 16 is about remembering the great sacrifices the youth of South Africa made during the liberation of our country to deliver a country that is free and fair to all our people.
Even though we are enjoying 21 years of democracy the youth still face many challenges. Some of the greatest challenges facing Ekurhuleni youth are to conquer poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and ignorance. These challenges are equally serious for all our youth – irrespective of race.
The voice of the youth is however loud and clear – we must take action to commit to youth development to bridge this gap. The single biggest challenge facing our youth is unemployment. As a metro we must broaden the youth’s skill base by actively investing in youth development. If we do not invest in our youth we may face a huge crisis in the future.
A recent study indicated 36.9 per cent of unemployed people are youth between the ages of 15 and 34 years. Ekurhuleni is determined to address the issue of youth unemployment. The mayor has over the past three years committed to an Ekurhuleni procurement practice that underpins and supports local job creation especially for youth, women and people with disabilities.
Ekurhuleni will once again host a job summit with the aim of empowering youth through employment. The job summit is not just for jobs in government but also in the private sector. The youth job summit is one of the tools, which will be used to mobilise and leverage strategic partnerships with the private sector and other social partners to create work and training opportunities for the youth in Ekurhuleni.
Business and industry have been invited to share their experiences and best practices in both job creation and skills development strategies to stimulate youth development. The Minthiro ya Vula Vula and Vukupile programs were specifically created to stimulate entrepreneurship in our youth and present opportunities for youth owned businesses.
Lets bridge the gap to create a better future for our youth and a better life for all.
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