FS youth absorbed in learnership

Government will spend R127-million on a learnership programme designed to arm the youth with both skills and experience

In a bid to reduce high level of unemployment among the youth, environment and water affairs minister Edna Molewa has generated 1 076 jobs for young people, which are going to be distributed among five provinces, with the Free State getting the largest share.

The initiative will see 330 Free State youth being absorbed into a waste and enterprise development for youth learnership programme which was launched on Monday this week under the theme Think, Eat, Save.

The province is followed by North West with 326 jobs, while Kwazulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo will each have 140 youth on the project.

Speaking at the launch in QwaQwa, Molewa said government will spend R127-million on this learnership programme that is designed to arm the youth with both skills and experience.

“The 330 youth are those who grabbed that opportunity with both hands, knowing that experience cannot be bought but is acquired. We want to give these youth an opportunity to be employable as nowadays most employers look for experience; this means a university qualification is not enough to get a job.”

She said some youth who had applied did not qualify because they did not meet the required specifications; the project targeted unemployed youth aged between 18 and 35 with a minimum of a matric qualification.

All hope is not lost for those who did not make the cut, as they will be included in similar programmes run by other departments.

“The young people will be trained on waste management and, upon completing a short course, they be attached to different municipalities at landfill operations,” said Molewa.

One of the 330 beneficiaries, Mendi Ntombizodwa Nkolonzi of QwaQwa, said before being enrolled on the learnership, she was beginning to lose hope of ever finding a job despite being a graduate because she lacked working experience.

“I completed my BSc in Microbial Biotechnology at the University of Natal in 2005, but have not been able to get a job ever since. This programme will be the end of my woes. At least I will acquire some practical working experience relevant to what I have studied.”

Equally ecstatic was Tobatsi Moloi of Bethlehem, who holds an under-graduate degree in social sciences and labour studies.

“Success comes to those who do not have the luxury of choosing and picking, because one day they will find themselves spoilt for choice. This may look too menial for a graduate, but it is the beginning of bigger things. Rome was not built in a day. Having stayed at home since 2006, I see this as my ticket to greener pastures. I would to advise other youth that beggars are not choosers.”

The acting mayor of Maluti-a-Phofung, Mamoroanyana Mositi, said the municipality welcomes the project with both hands and will support it fully to ensure its success and sustainability.

The country’s youth make up the majority of the unemployed. Statistics South Africa reports that the country’s unemployment rate rose from 23.0 to 25.2 percent during the first quarter of the year.