The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will embark on a Youth Month Campaign aimed at creating awareness among the country’s young people on the adverse effects of alcohol abuse.
The campaign kicks off in Mamelodi, Pretoria on Tuesday, 4 June 2013 with a series of seminars which will be held in various provinces, and will peak with a bigger event in Lenyenye, near Tzaneen, Limpopo where the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe will address the young people.
Thabethe says the objectives of the campaign also include empowering the youth to participate in the mainstream economy, encouraging them to develop skills and raising awareness about the negative behavioural activities related to liquor abuse. Such activities include, violence, murder, drunken driving, promiscuity, sexual offences and the spread of HIV/Aids, school truancy, and abuse of children and women.
“June has been declared the Youth Month and is justifiably commemorated to coincide with the National Youth Day, June 16. The day recognises the commitment of the South African Youth of 1976 to fighting the apartheid system and all forms of discrimination. The young people of this era have a different kind of an agenda as they are confronted by various challenges.
Youth activism is centred on matters of economic participation, unemployment, education, skills development and social cohesion. But liquor abuse among today’s young people is noticeably and concernedly high and weighs heavily on youth activism,” says Deputy Minister Thabethe.
She adds that the South African government has initiated interventions such as the establishment of the National Youth Development Agency and the recently signed Youth Accord, aimed at improving the socio-economic being of the country’s young people.
“Unemployment remains high among the young people, and government initiatives geared towards changing the status quo will not achieve much if the young people of this country abuse liquor. Our department has a mandate to grow the country’s economy and ensure that all sectors of our society are contributing meaningfully and actively in the economy in order to build a prosperous nation,” says Thabethe.
Thabethe also explains that the Liquor Act of 2003, which is administered by the dti’s National Liquor Authority, requires the department to reduce the socio-economic costs of liquor abuse in the country. The Act also says that the dti should promote the development of a responsible and sustainable liquor industry in a manner that inculcates the ethos of social responsibility among other things.
During the campaign, the young people will also be provided with information on the products and services offered by the dti and its agencies to encourage them establish businesses, particularly cooperatives, and to grow their business in order to create employment for themselves and their communities.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
