Johannesburg - The government is partly to blame for the lack of entrepreneurship among young people and their reliance on jobs and tenders as their ticket away from the scourge of unemployment.
The closure of colleges of education after 1994 entrenched disinterest and killed a potential for an entrepreneurship spirit among South African youth.
This is according to deputy minister in the Presidency responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation, Buti Manamela, who is leading the development of the National Youth Policy.
Fresh policy recommendations were received by the government at a recent consultative conference for a policy that will be implemented throughout the three spheres of the government to address unemployment and social and health challenges faced by the youth.
These include proposals to create set-aside contracts for black youth-owned businesses, increasing access to funding and creating more opportunities for education and skills development. The setting up of youth-focused units, from national government to municipalities, is among the recommendations made for the draft policy.
It is an improvement on the 2009-2014 youth policy, which saw, among other elements, the realignment of the objectives of the National Youth Development agency and other youth-oriented plans in government.
“By closing the colleges, what we did was to create a stigma around certain sets of jobs; young people did not want to be mechanics, bricklayers, and electricians,” Manamela said. “And that is why those jobs are done predominantly by people from other Southern African countries. But those jobs can be quite lucrative if young people approach them as entrepreneurs. Being a welder is a scarce skill. We had to import about 2 000 of them from Malaysia for the construction of Medupi and other power stations.”
He said this was being turned around, with the emphasis being placed on further education and training colleges as platforms to develop artisan skills. Once the policy is adopted by cabinet, national, provincial and local government departments will be expected to align their performance and strategic plans with the policy.
According to Manamela, the urgency to start turning around the youth unemployment figures could not be greater than currently, with last June’s Labour Force Survey putting youth unemployment at 36.1 percent.
Recent protests that had led to the removal of the Rhodes statue showed that not only the government would bear the brunt of the frustrations of South African youth over the lack of transformation.
“Institutions of learning, businesses and people who are profiting from this country are going to be confronted by the youth on issues of transformation. Because we are coming of age, this generation has begun to ask questions about the issues we thought we could brush aside, questions about who owns the Stock Exchange, and how are we benefiting from the country’s mineral resources,” he said.
The national youth policy was an addition to efforts already being made by the government to alleviate young people’s suffering and lack of opportunities.
The government is hoping the policy can be finalised for submission to the cabinet by June this year.
The Sunday Independent