The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) welcomes Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s Budget Speech and the particular emphasis placed on entrepreneurial development and education. This budget has cleared the confusion around the Fee-Free Quality Higher Education for young people from the poor and working class.
We applaud government’s resolve to finally implement this long standing demand for a fee-free quality higher education.
When free education was announced as pushed for by us, many a commentator told us how it was not "feasible and affordable" and to the contrary we said that our caring and listening Government would make it possible as per the 2017 ruling Party conference resolutions as well as the 2018 SONA declarations.
The 2018 Budget Speech states that “Work is being done to provide crucial funding to innovative small businesses when they need it the most. A fund with an allocation of R 2.1 billion over the medium term is being developed between the Department of Small Businesses, Science and Technology and the National Treasury to benefit small and medium enterprises during the early start-up phase—this is an area that historically had limited support because the risks involved”. We are calling for a chunk of that money to be placed aside for youth owned businesses and entrepreneurs as announced by the President in the SONA with a special dispensation for requirements of funding for youth owned enterprises.
We are calling for oversight over the implementation of the Preferential Procurement Regulations which came into effective in April 2017 particularly a provision on “Targeted procurement from designated groups, including township and rural enterprises, black women and youth enterprises, cooperatives and people with disabilities”. Young people must be the major beneficiaries on an inclusive and growing economy, we continue to call for youth set-asides.
This pronouncement is in line with our declaration against youth unemployment and consistent call for 40% youth quota in government procurement, including in Parliament.
According to the NYDA Chairperson Sifiso Mtsweni “We are more delighted that the budget has emphasised the need for a partnership between government, labour, the private sector and civil society for inclusive growth and job creation. Youth development is everyone’s business”.
“However, we must indicate our discomfort around the exclusion of an increase in corporate tax to fund free education resulting in increased VAT which will affect the poor in one way or another” said Mtsweni
For media enquiries contact:
Lerato Gambu
Tel: 011 651 7000
Cell: 064 860 0716
E-mail: Lerato.Gambu@nyda.gov.za
