Cape Town - The Makana Municipality in the Eastern Cape launched a two week-long campaign to help students apply for tertiary funding through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) bursary.
The campaign is part of the newly appointed executive mayor, Yandiswa Vara and the mayoral committee’s outreach programme which aims to prioritise youth development through acquiring skills and knowledge in the higher education sector.
Members of the municipality, including the Mayoral Committee members and some students from Rhodes University and East Cape Midlands College, assisted prospective students to apply for the NSFAS bursary.
“The outreach programme’s strategic objective is to empower youth with the necessary tools to ensure that their future is secured to better contribute to the developmental society we seek to build as a government. Part of the role of government is to be an enabler for communities to create a better life for all. We will embark on other similar programmes across sectors to ensure that we achieve our electoral mandate,” the Mayor said.
According to Mayoral Committee Member for local economies, Mzobanzi Nkwentsha, the outreach programme was largely successful and processed over 100 successful applications on the first day.
“We further call on the people of Makhanda to come out in numbers once more when the Mayor pushes toward the second phase of the Outreach programme to ensure extensive outreach to all prospective higher education students. We come from a mass democratic movement that preaches the gospel of education for the total emancipation of the working class. Therefore this programme is one of the programmes that must take centre stage,” said Councillor Nkwentsha.
“After this campaign’s conclusion, the executive mayor will also launch the SITA leadership programme that is aimed at reducing the scourge of youth unemployment in the Makhanda community,” he added.
The campaign will run until the new NSFAS application deadline on January 21.
IOL