15 Jun 2015

Young people’s energies and abilities should be exploited through activities that promote development and social progress, says Ministry of Transport and Communications senior transport manager, Ms Nkabo Kefilwe.

Speaking at a youth mainstreaming workshop recently, Ms Kefilwe said there was need to mainstream youth matters incorporating issues that affected them.

She said there was also need to provide opportunities for young people such as encouraging their inclusion and participation in all issues concerning them.

She added that policies and programmes which did not support the youth should be revised to enable them to benefit. “We should support youth led policy deliberations, increased opportunities for employment and promotion of an entrepreneurial environment,” she said.

She noted that the youth were engaged in various creative and innovative subjects such as information communication technology (ICT). She added that there was a need to take advantage of such youth because they constituted a major source of human capital that could drive the socio-economy as well as political development of the country.

Furthermore, Ms Kefilwe said the youth need to be supported to take their leadership role, and urged participants to support focal persons in their endeavour to mainstream youth issues.

She also encouraged participants to identify opportunities and initiatives that could help close the gap.

Participants were also urged to study the national youth policy because it related to the MTC’s mandate of telecommunication and transport.

Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) coordinator, Ms Boitshepo Bolele said in aligning MTC with the revised national youth policy, the ministry should address areas affecting  the youth such as poverty, unemployment and access to science and technology.

Ms Bolele said the MTC should also come up programmes relating to the organisation that would benefit the youth.

She added that the MTC should consider its action plan and focus on providing opportunities for the youth.

She said as an action plan, the MTC should explore ways of increasing access of ICT, especially in rural areas. Ends