The Premier of the Free State, Mr Ace Magashula
MEC of Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs, Mr Mosebenzi Zwane
Executive Mayor of Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality, Dr Balekile Mzangwa
Mayor of Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality, Cllr Sarah Moleleki
Management of Implementing agencies,
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen,
Across the globe on Wednesday 5 June 2013, we celebrated World Environment Day (WED). In South Africa the day coincides with National Environment Month and Youth Month. In keeping with the observation of June as Youth and Environment Month, it is very befitting that we have gathered here for the launch of the “Jobs in Waste and Enterprise Development for Youth Programme” or to put it in more vibey terms for our youngsters: “Youth Jobs in Waste.”
The Waste Management sector is in the spotlight, due to this year’s theme for World Environment Day and National Environment Month. The theme, as set by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is THINK. EAT. SAVE. This year’s theme looks at promoting an understanding of the impact that food waste has on the environment and in so doing, encouraging communities to change their attitudes towards environmental issues.
Today is also the World Day to Combat Desertification, which is being observed under the theme: Don’t let our future dry up. We should take on this theme in a broader sense as well, not just looking at water, but also as a call to secure a bright future for our children.
During my delivery of the Budget Vote speech in Parliament last month, I emphasised our concern as a department over the growing number of unemployed young people. Scores of young people in South Africa are unemployed, some despite having achieved tertiary education. In March 2006 youth unemployment was estimated at 50.3% for 14 to 24 year olds and 29.5% for 25 to 35 year olds. This is an untenable state of affairs and requires immediate attention by all organs of state as well the private sector.
The waste sector has been identified as one of the critical sectors, with the potential to contribute substantially to the generation of jobs within the green economy. It is in this light that the department is increasingly expanding its programmes in job creation and enterprise development programmes within the Waste sector. The current initiative is aimed at addressing youth unemployment in our country, in a sustainable manner.
When we refer to sustainability, it is both in terms of the environment and in reference to providing our young people with the tools to sustain themselves, their families and their emerging enterprises for the long term.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Waste management is at the core of service delivery, therefore it is important that the state improves its capacity to deliver waste services. This is not only to meet service delivery needs, but also to provide dignity and quality of life to our people. South Africa’s democratic government inherited an unequal and inhumane waste management sector, in which services, town-planning and improvements were prioritised for the minority. Building much needed capacity in our townships, peri-urban areas and rural areas in the waste sector, will go a long way towards beginning to address these historical imbalances.
The Department of Environmental Affairs has conducted numerous studies that have clearly illustrated the capacity constraints that are experienced by Municipalities, in delivering waste services. Municipalities lack capacity including but not limited to: Landfill operations, Waste collection planning and administration, Separation at source and refuse collection.
Awareness of the impact of waste on health, well-being and the environment is very uneven across different communities, as evidenced by the extent of littering. It is obvious that ordinary citizens need to be inspired, educated and mobilised. This is in order to activate and involve our community members, as partners and ambassadors, in the process of solving the environmental challenges in general and waste challenges in particular.
Thus an integrated intervention that brings together an increase in capacity levels of Municipalities as well as heightened levels of awareness amongst citizens is overdue.
The training interventions that the Department of Environmental Affairs has conducted, have revealed that it is necessary to create permanent capacity within Municipalities to lessen the capacity burden in respect of provisioning of waste services. The low levels of capacity in municipalities present an excellent opportunity for creation of jobs, on the job training, continuous up-skilling as well as enterprise development for the youth.
An estimated 3 577 jobs will be created by placing young people in Municipalities, who will be serving as:
Landfill Site Assistants;
Waste Collection Administrators; and
Environmental Awareness Educators.
Further work opportunities will be created from the construction activities associated with the building or erection of landfill site offices, ablution facilities as well as weigh-pad platforms at landfill sites across the country.
Young people in each of South Africa’s nine provinces will benefit from this programme. The provincial distribution of the jobs is as follows:
KwaZulu-Natal - 728, jobs created
Eastern Cape - 566
Western Cape - 366
Limpopo - 350
North West - 326
Northern Cape - 273
Mpumalanga - 262
Gauteng – 326
And here in the Free State province, 380 young people will benefit from the programme.
In response to the lack of technical knowledge in landfill site operation and management, the department conducted training sessions in all provinces in the 2011/12 fiscal year. It is crucial to ensure continuity in landfill site operations and management, and thus it is crucial to involve young people to this technical field. It is in this context that the DEA now wants to extend this training to 462 young people who will be placed in municipalities across the country in this current year. The young people, upon completing the short course, will be based at the Landfill Operations and will assist with day to day management and administration related to the operations at the landfills. Key tasks they would undertake there relate to the operation of weigh-pad technology, as well as monitoring workface activities.
Another key work stream, is area of Waste Collection Planning and Administration. The department has noted that municipalities require assistance in the planning and execution of waste collection operational plans. There is substantial administration and management that is associated with waste collection planning and execution. The young people involved in this work stream, would be used to develop reports and reporting tools, as well as implementing municipal targets as expressed in Integrated Waste Management Plans. The young people will be placed within the municipal offices, with reporting lines worked into the municipal organogram.
In addition to the above, the National Waste Management Strategy has set a target for 80% of schools to be implementing waste awareness programmes, such as recycling projects, by 2016. The target for the same year for local awareness campaigns is for 80% of municipalities to be running campaigns about waste and littering. Ultimately, awareness and recognition programmes around waste should result in visibly cleaner towns and cities, a reduction in illegal dumping, and the successful implementation of separation at source programmes.
As part of this Youth Jobs in Waste Programme, the campaign would be aimed at creating awareness of waste management issues. For maximum effectiveness, waste awareness and anti-littering campaigns will be linked to the recycling infrastructure and to extended waste services. This will be particularly important in separating waste at source. The campaign is intended to be a door-to-door sustained campaign with the objective of achieving and inspiring behavioural changes. The young people, termed Environmental Awareness Educators, would be involved in the planning and execution of environmental awareness campaigns as well as developing educational materials for the campaigns.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The ability of our country to create a conducive environment for young South Africans to be absorbed into active economic participation, is of vital importance. The National Development Plan’s target for job creation, is set at 11 million jobs by 2030. Our green economy interventions, such as the Youth Jobs in Waste programme, must support this roadmap.
This is in order to ensure that our programmes positively contribute to Government’s job creation target, and to ensure that we centrally position our sector as a hub of job creation, without deviating from our mandate of protecting the integrity of our environment. With that, it is my pleasure and indeed my privilege to officially launch the Youth Jobs in Waste Programme!
Kea leboga, I thank you, Dankie.
