Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has extended the employment contracts of 32,000 youth brigades under the Nasi iSpani mass recruitment programme.
The individuals will work as teacher assistants in schools across Gauteng.
Their roles include Education Assistants (EA), General School Assistants (GSA), and Early Childhood Development Assistants (ECDA) in schools.
Lesufi handed over the appointment letters to the job-seekers who packed the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg on Sunday.
[IN PICTURES]: 📍Dobsonville Stadium. Thousands of young people are today receiving their employment letters, working as the Gauteng Youth Brigades in various Gauteng schools.#NasiiSpani#GrowingGautengTogether pic.twitter.com/5hPZmancKN
— Gauteng Provincial Gov (@GautengProvince) February 11, 2024
These are individuals whose contracts ended last year.
“These are young people who were recorded by a national government and their contracts came to an end. We felt that we can’t have 32,000 people unemployed when they have done so well,” he said.
[WATCH]: Premier @Lesufi extends the contracts of over 30 000 Gauteng Youth Brigade who will work as Education Assistants, General School Assistants, and Early Childhood Development Assistants in Gauteng schools. #NasiiSpani pic.twitter.com/7SwLQ4xOAR
— Gauteng Provincial Gov (@GautengProvince) February 11, 2024
Addressing the crowd, the premier said young people should not depend on grants and handouts, instead, they must work for themselves, earn their salaries, and contribute to the province’s economic development and growth.
“Social development department, you can keep your social grants, we are employing them,” he said.
This is as Lesufi continued to fulfil his long-standing promise to create jobs for young people in the province since his inception as the premier.
This is the third biggest public handover of appointment letters to date since last year.
Lesufi has so far handed over more than 90,000 employment letters to the unemployed youth, including the Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens “AmaPanyaza” who are now training under the supervision of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to fight crime in the province.
However, the premier dismissed claims that this was an electioneering campaign, saying the drive was aimed at tackling unemployment in the province.
“It’s unfortunate if people say it’s election work. We just want to give these people an opportunity rather than for them to join the unemployment queue.
“What is strange is that everyone in their manifesto talks about fighting unemployment, but when you do that they also accuse you of electioneering,” he said.
Lesufi added that their mission was to make sure that the youth of Gauteng got opportunities to improve their lives and skills.
IOL Politics