Address by the Minister of Employment and Labour, TW Nxesi at the Youth Career’s Fair and Service Deliver, 24 January 2024
Program Directors; Mr T Khesa and Mr Sipho Ndebele;
Free State Premier, Honourable Dukwana;
Members of the Executive Council (MECs) present;
The Executive Mayor, Councillor J Ngono;
The Different Houses of Traditional Leaders;
The Councillors from different Municipalities;
The Senior Officials from the Department of Employment and Labour Head Office, the Provincial Office and the various Labour Centres;
Exhibitors from other Government departments, Government Entities, the Private Sector;
The Leadership of Business, Trade Unions, Community organisations;
Our Very Important Guests for today - batsha;
Good day,
Dumelang,
Molweni,
Gooie Middag
Thank you very much for heeding our call to attend this Careers Fair so early this year, 2024, as many companies are still reopening after the festive season. Last week, Minister Angie Motshekga published last year’s matric results Class of 2023, with the Free State leading, highest pass rate. I congratulate the Free State, well done. I must congratulate Bafana Bafana for the improved performance in AFCON at Ivory Coast, let’s wish them well in the next game against Tunisia.
We have arranged this session, as an attempt to put systemic solutions in place that produce results that are aligned to the needs of the employers, in Botshabelo, Free State and the broader South African economy. I value your participation in the Careers Fair and hope that you will also access other government and private sector services that we are here to offer today.
Today’s service delivery event demonstrates that if we come together, from National, Provincial, District and Municipality levels, we can achieve more as a collective in providing services to our people. I want to encourage all work-seekers to grab every available job opportunity and the career information that you are going to receive from the various stalls, and use it as a stepping stone to your desired jobs in this constrained jobs environment.
We started these service delivery initiatives that are, by the way, part of the normal day to day activities in our offices, on Monday, the 22th January and Tuesday the 23rd January, we were at Barolong Hall, in Thaba Nchu. We are here at Botshabelo, with this Careers Fair and Integrated Service Delivery programme with other government departments, drawn from National, Provincial and local levels, and also including private sector companies and institutions of learning.
A number of people came to register as work-seekers across all the visiting sites and received employment counselling services. We are hoping that with the assistance that was provided to work seekers to apply for various opportunities, within the coming weeks, the majority will be contacted and assisted to prepare for interviews with prospective employers in the province and beyond.
We also received applications for UIF, enquiries regarding the status of applications and payments were effected. There were also applications for Compensation for occupational injuries and diseases that were processed. We also conducted a series of inspections to check the extent to which employers in this region comply with our legislation.
To the majority of young people in this stadium today, I want you to know that there is “No Job that is a dirty job”; there is no job that is too lowly – that is how we start out to gain experience and work our way up from the bottom.
We used to sing ‘my mother was a kitchen girl, my father was a garden boy’ – but today, we are men and women holding various positions in government, the private sector and some are running their own businesses, whilst others are employed in various work places - because of what our parents did for us. Taking an entry level job might lead to processes of discovery of talents and skills that you have. You will never know what you are good at unless you try.
Give yourself time even if it is beyond today, to talk to our employment practitioners and counsellors, for advice. Seek out mentors and trusted people that can help you during your job search journey. This will help you to build confidence in your abilities and fuel your desire to make a change, as you realise that you want to work and grow. The best advice I can offer you today, is for you to take personal responsibility, have a growth mind-set, be future orientated, and have perseverance: as Nelson Mandela once said, “it all seems impossible until it’s done.”
Our labour laws forbid private employment agencies and temporary employment service organisations from charging you as work seekers any fees for assisting you to find employment. Please stop giving these organisations and mafias your parent’s hard earned cash to buy employment. For the common interest of everyone, report unscrupulous agencies that charge you fees to labour inspectors and the police. The law prescribes that these services are free of charge and you must not pay a cent to anyone. Be aware of the scams that are now operating on social media. Stay away from anything that promises you a job on condition that you pay a certain fee. If it is too good to be true, you are going to lose your money.
The Department of Employment and Labour’ (DEL) systems, and those of our partners in the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative such as the Youth Mobi, the Higher Education KHETHA, and those of Private Employment Agencies registered with the DEL, are digital and can be accessed remotely from anywhere, in line with trends in other countries.
The mobile units that we secured with the assistance of the European Union that are outside this tent, are an example of technology as it progresses. They incorporate laptops that are used by our counsellors and employment practitioners for on-site counselling and life-skills advice. We have all our systems available online but we know that data costs remain too high and we are trying to find the best solution to that. We have introduced these vehicles, to reach out to remote rural and urban communities that find it difficult to access our Employment and Labour Centres and these mobile units are equipped to provide all DEL online services.
This morning, we had a session with Employers and Trade Unions at the Digital Hub, eBotshabelo. Our aim, was to address their concerns and to further clarify certain aspects of our labour laws. All this is done as part of our initiative to encourage them to create employment for our people and to assist us to eradicate poverty and inequality.
I wish you all the best in the Career Fair activities during the rest of the day and hope that you will make good use of the information that you are going to receive. I formally declare the Careers Fair Open.
I thank you, Baie dankie, Siyabonga
