Address by the member of the Executive Council for Social Development Ms Nandi Mayathula-Khoza on the occasion of Tea and Biscuits Affairs June Nasrec Exhibition Centre
Programme Director Ms Natasha Makathini Ms Vanessa Phiri
Ms Tumi from Black
Distinguished Panellists here present Distinguished Guests
Brain Members of the Media
Young people and Gauteng residents
I am indeed delighted to have been invited to be part of such an important event that seeks to secure the future mothers of our province. I trust this morning is as special to you as it is to me.
I have been informed that the “Tea and Biscuit” is a crucial platform where young girls are able to come together and share life experiences. I am told it affords you the opportunity to discuss challenges and obstacles that you go through in life. I hear that you use this platform to educate each other and
learn from each other’s experience. I applaud the initiative and I promise to be brief and let you carry on with your business.
Programme Director, in South Africa, the month of June is a Youth Month. It is dedicated to protecting our children and their rights. It saddens me so much that, even so, the people of Gauteng had to bury no less than 70 young women recently who died at the hands of patriachical violence.
This gender based violence, which places men as predominant perpetrators, strengthens the hypothesis that women are at greater risk of being murdered in familiar environments by men known to them. This means we must as a society we must pay more attention to addressing men and boy children challenges in the same manner we are doing about women and girl children.
At the Gauteng Department of Social Development we are implementing programmes that are geared towards advocating, assisting, empowering, protecting, inspiring, enabling, advancing, improving and developing young women, girls, men and boys simultaneously.
We do this because we understand that a better quality of life for all and human dignity can only be achieved if we all grow together. If we neglect to empower a boy child, I am afraid, we will have boys with poor self-esteem and this will greatly undermine efforts such what we are about this morning.
It would not help us to have confident and motivated young women like all of you, only to be exposed to gender imbalance/ inequality and gender based violence. So, to build healthy and strong communities, the inclusion of the boy child in the empowerment program is critical and we are doing that. We just concluded a young men conference at the Birchwood hotel for this purpose.
Programme Director, I was informed that you pay particular attention to the educational and economic empowerment of young girls; to prepare them to lead independent lives and that you help them with safe and productive transition from adolescent to adulthood.
The plight of the poor girl children who cannot afford sanitary towels is one of our key priorities. We have introduced the dignity packs that include enough sanitary towels, lotion, deodorant and soap to last a month. In addition, a balance was maintained from a gender perspective for both the girl and boy child as dignity packs were distributed to both. The Department provided some toiletries to the boy child. The service was also expanded to children with albinism.
As part of caring for all our children, our school uniform programme is being rolled out to every deserving child in the province. The key focus is within the broader vision of making Gauteng a Province “fit for children” by ensuring that vulnerable and orphaned children between the ages of 0-18 years are able to access an integrated package of services through a ‘single window’.
I trust therefore that; you will be pleased to know that the Gauteng Provincial Government is worried about unemployment and lack of job opportunities for young people. Youth unemployment is the most acute and primary economic problem of our time. In Gauteng, we currently have about 2.7 million young people of working age, who are not in education and employment.
In 2014, the Premier of Gauteng Ntate David Makhura launched the Tshepo 500 000 initiative with the intention to empower about half a million young people through skills training, job placement and entrepreneurship development.
“Two years after we launched of Tshepo 500 000, we reached 354 633 young people. That is when we decided to increase our target to empower one million young people by 2019.”
That is the Premier’s declaration.
He says that already more than 20 companies have committed to work with the Provincial Government to give hope to unemployed young people in the province. Some of the major international and local companies that have committed to in this programme are Microsoft SA, Coca-Cola, Hollard, Gijima, Shanduka Black Umbrellas and COFESA.
Tshepo One Million is aimed at providing opportunities to the youth, especially those in townships who are confronted by lack of skills and limited opportunities. This initiative is linked to other strategic initiatives of our programme for radical Transformation, Modernisation and Re-industrialisation (TMR) -revitalisation of the Township Economy and the regeneration and development of township infrastructure.
Ladies, may I state categorically, we don’t agree with the concept of blessers. We have developed an economic opportunity model specifically for single mothers to move them from dependence on child care grants to sustainable self-supporting economic activity. We don’t want young girls to be dependent on sugar daddies. We want them to be self-reliant. That is why we are teaching them how to fish. To this end‚ the province has allocated R23.5-million towards the Welfare-to-Young Work Programme. We want to expand this programme with an aim of reaching about 4000 recipients by the end of term for this administration.
Programme Director, I allow me to take this opportunity to challenge those who want to be entrepreneurs in this room to prove to me that they mean business. I would like 10 of them to come back here next year to address this meeting about how they have taken advantage of opportunities made available to young women by the democratic government.
The Gauteng Provincial Government has a total budget of over R108 billion. At least 30% of all our goods and services of that money is earmarked for youth owned companies. So, young people must take up these opportunities, so that we are be able to remove a majority of our youth from poverty and social grant dependency.
You must shun substance abuse; we are told that children as young as those in primary school are already being used to sell drugs. This way, we simply cannot produce the type of young people that the current Government programmes are aimed for.
Government is rolling out massive infrastructure projects in the delivery of housing, education and health care facilities and we are implementing green energy solutions. We are building four new mega cities featuring own industries and enterprises to ensure that citizens work where they live. These are enormous prospects. We need young people who can derive business from these developments. Young women, in particular, should not be fighting for free houses and grants; they should be able to take charge of their own future.
Conclusion
Government sees the youth as the future leaders of our country. We do all we can to ensure that our youth, especially young women, have a better tomorrow. It is one of our foremost statesmen Oliver Reginald Tambo who
reminds us that: “A nation that does not care of its youth has no future and does not deserve one”.
You are all young, energetic, intelligent, physically and mentally fit individuals, dedicated to serving their country and pursuing own careers. Let me assure you, as you try and find a space for yourselves in the sunshine, know that your government is your trusted ally.
Good luck God Bless.
Thank you.
