Johannesburg - Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has praised young people who participated in a hackathon and said such events more should occur all over the country.
Dlamini Zuma, in partnership with the chief executive of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), Waseem Carrim, hosted a Youth Hackathon Consultative Session under the theme #BuildingTogether.
Dlamini Zuma said the purpose of this hackathon was to solicit inputs and participation on the conceptualisation of new democratic cities that are reflective of spatial integration representative of the democratic dispensation demographics. To ensure inclusivity, Cogta has adopted the hackathon concept as a vehicle to drive consultative stakeholder engagement sessions in keeping with principles of #BuildingTogether.
The webinar was facilitated by commissioner Tessa Dooms. She engaged with the youth participants and said this exercise was important and it would help the government in making decisions.
Dlamini Zuma said the ideas and input submitted by the youth would form part of that provided by policymakers and planners.
“This is a first of many conversations, these should take place all over the country. We have taken note of that; some of these conversations would have to be conducted physically, since in rural areas there are connection problems. These are important insights. Young people who live with disabilities must not be forgotten, also we need both genders to participate. I learned a lot and I enjoyed this,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
“To build truly democratic cities, we must engage all of society for collaboration and co-production, particularly the youth, as they constitute the future,” Dlamini Zuma said.
“I am so happy that we are having this interaction and it gives me great pleasure to share this platform with young people of our country on whose shoulders the future is,” said Dlamini Zuma.
“The purpose of this session is for us to listen to the young people as a stakeholder and to ensure that the youth perspective forms an integral part of designing our future in general.”
IOL