South Africa’s “greatest challenge are the millions of unemployed youths” who are idle in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa has told a Youth Day anniversary in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape province.
“The fact that millions of young people are not in employment, education or training is the greatest challenge facing our country today,” Ramaphosa said during the commemoration of the day when thousands of Soweto youths took to the streets on 16 June 1976 to protest against the mandatory use of Afrikaans in their schools during classes.
The commemoration was themed “Promoting sustainable livelihood and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow”.
Ramaphosa said the apartheid legacy of poverty, unemployment and inequality has been compounded by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the July 2021 pro-Jacob Zuma unrest, and the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Eastern Cape provinces.
He, however, said his government remained focused on far-reaching economic reforms to create conditions for the expansion of businesses throughout the country.
“It is for this reason that we announced the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which is a comprehensive response to the youth unemployment challenge,” the president said.
He added: “We also have launched the Presidential Employment Stimulus which supports public and social employment, and which has created close to 880,000 job opportunities since it was established.”
A flagship initiative of the employment stimulus is the school assistance programme which has placed 287,000 young people in schools across the country, Ramaphosa said.
These young people were now accessing meaningful employment while supporting teachers and, at the same time, contributing to positive learning outcomes in schools, the South African leader said.
NM/jn/APA