R27 billion business opportunities for GP youth
With over 25% of Gauteng’s youth unemployed, the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) is pulling all stops to ensure youth enterprise development, Gauteng Infrastructure Development (GDI) MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said at the weekend.
Addressing a the Church of Nazarene Youth Conference in Dlamini Soweto on Saturday, Mayathula-Khoza said the Provincial Government was determined addressing massive unemployment of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 and thus end poverty amongst the youth.
“The Gauteng Provincial Government has a total budget of over R90 billion. We a target of procuring at least 30% of all our goods and services from youth owned companies. So, young people must take up these opportunities. That way, we should be able to remove a majority of our youth from poverty and social grant dependency.
“Young people must first be focused and ready to take up the challenge. They 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,” she said.
The MEC said Government was rolling out massive infrastructure projects in the delivery of housing, education and health care facilities and implementing green energy solutions.
“Government is 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 people should not be fighting for free houses and grants, they should be able to take charge of their own future,” she said.
Mayathula-Khoza said the GPG was reindustrialising the entire province paying particular attention to townships.
“We need young people to be in the manufacturing as well. We must be able manufacturer material we need to build the entire social infrastructure we are building; we need LED lights, door-frames, doors, solar panel, and etc. It is through the manufacturing of such material that we would be able to build township industries. That is what we call the township economic resuscitation. We are looking for SMMES, cooperative, that can trade with government, she said.
According to Stats SA 2015 figures youth unemployment has deteriorated since 2008 to date. Of the approximately 19.7-million working-age youth 9.8-million were not economically active, 6.2 million were employed, and 3.6 million were unemployed.
For more information please make contact with:
Mbangwa Xaba
Cell: 072 447 6582
E-mail: mbangwa.xaba@gauteng.gov.za
