In celebrating the Youth Month, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Legislature hosted its annual Youth Parliament at Pongola in the Zululand District at the Belgrade Community Hall. Speaker of the KZN Legislature, Hon. N.P Nkonyeni, Members of the Legislature, Members of the Executive Council, delegates from all 6 parties represented in the Legislature as well as youth from Zululand District and the public attended this annual event.
Also in attendance were various government departments providing services to the public such as Health, Home Affairs, Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, Economic Development and Tourism, Social Development, Arts and Culture and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) which provided voter registration. Departments also provided the youth of Zululand with vital information relating to career opportunities provided by government departments.
The public from Pongola came out in numbers to listen to the debates. Members of the Executive Council (MECs) addressed the Youth Parliament on various issues relating to their departments. The issues ranged from unemployment, the background and statistics.
The Youth (aged 15 - 34) constitute a disproportionate share of the unemployed with 72% of the total unemployed. Child headed household and poverty in KZN, the number of Youth headed households has decreased over the past 9 years in South Africa.
However, it has increased in KwaZulu-Natal. KZN Unemployed Graduates Assistance Programme: focusing mainly on skilled Youth, tertiary graduates. The KZN Unemployed Graduate database management doubled in2012 with more 2500 unemployed graduates registered and eligible for assistance.
“Addressing the Youth Parliament, MEC for Health informed the youth that the department advertises all programmes aimed at developing the youth who matriculates and become unemployed. Most youth gets employment in local health facilities. Career exhibitions and road shows are also conducted in places with difficult recruitment tools.
Internships posts were advertised in January 2013 in the whole province including rural areas. Due to financial constraints 123 interns were employed in April 2013. 174 learners are on a learnership for professional and specialization in nursing learnership. They are currently registered in various KZN Nursing Colleges with the office of the Premier in the implementation of the Youth Ambassador Programme.
The Department of Health is involved in a number of programmes that are targeting the Youth under the age of 35 years, therefore; medical male circumcision, this programme was started to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases since 2010. The department has various campaigns that are targeting the Youth to test for HIV.
“We have also intensified our condom distribution in taxi ranks and taverns” minister Dlomo said. The MEC has embarked on a behaviour change programme called “Anti-Sugar Daddy Campaign” at the beginning of the year with the aim to discourage older men from having relationships with younger girls and impregnating them. This campaign will also reduce the scourage of HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy, to mention a few.
The main strategies utilized by the Department of Health are; creating a safe and protective environment/ providing information/ to ensure drug awareness and knowledge are infused into the school syllabus through school health/ to increase the availability of telephone hotlines in the province/ access to health services.
The Department of Health has actively sourced sponsorships for the sanitary pads and a school in Zululand District receives the sanitary pads on a monthly basis. The Minister for Social Development made the following announcements.
The department has and will continue to recruit Youth Exiting the Foster Care System, Orphans and Unemployed Youth into these programmes recruitment and training youth on integrated community care giver model; recruitment of Youth to perform Ward Based Household Profiling; Offer training in child and Youth Care Services. This department has created 6151 job opportunities.
The department absorbed into permanent positions 316 young people as social workers. 204 people have been recruited for this financial year. This brings in total 1374 young people who are being trained in different levels as social workers.
The department also provides the following services targeting Youth disabilities therefore skills development, psycho-social support, economic empowerment. The department provides Substance Abuse Awareness Programme in terms of prevention and early intervention programmes, in and out Patient Treatment Services and Aftercare.
The department has the following programmes targeting young men affected by issues of domestic violence, human rights, gender based violence and positive masculinity. The department provides prevention programmes in relation to human trafficking. The department launched the sanitary Dignity Campaign.
The main objective of the campaign is that of the provision of sanitary towels to underprivileged primary and secondary school girls who do not have the necessary resources to purchase them.
Speaker Nkonyeni then closed the event by thanking the people of Pongola for their huge attendance and participation in the event. She also thanked the delegates for the respect showed and participation in the debates. Overall, the Youth parliament was a huge success.
