03 Aug 2015

The Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture Mr Thapelo Olopeng has implored the youth to turn their talents into commercial enterprises. 

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Pitsane in the Good Hope – Mabule constituency on Thursday July 30, Mr Olopeng told the youth that his ministry funds talented youth who have expertise in various fields, including sports and creative industries.

He encouraged the youth to get in touch with his ministry to apply for various programmes to improve their living standards.

He said that his wish was to see the Youth Development Fund (YDF) producing young millionaires.

He encouraged the youth to take responsibility and grow their businesses after being given start-up money.

He said that his ministry has started a lot of initiatives intended to improve service delivery such as taking inventory of all the YDF-funded businesses country wide.

He said the inventory will inform the ministry about problems, which lead to the collapse of YDF-funded businesses and to find a way to tackle them.

Minister Olopeng also encouraged the elderly to impart cultural knowledge on their children to preserve culture and to counter foreign influences brought about by modern technology.

 He lauded the women of Pitsane who have formed a cultural group called Kopanang Bomme Cultural Group. He cited it as one way of imparting cultural knowledge to the youth. He said such cultural groups can also be income generators and tourism attractions that can boost foreign direct investment.

Minister Olopeng pledged to assist such initiatives to grow and realise their objectives. 

He donated P600 to the Kopanang Bomme Cultural Group. 

The troupe had pleaded with the minister for assistance to complete a cultural house that they have started building behind the village kgotla.

In their comments, the youth expressed concern at the non-availability of land in the village where they can operate their businesses from. 

Mr Sipho Makhawa complained of high rentals in the business complexes that are available in the village.

Another youth, Letlang Mosethe, complained that the YDF forms are quite difficult to fill, which discourages them to apply for the facility.

In his response, Minister Olopeng told the youth that his ministry is working with the relevant authorities to avail land to the youth, especially for business operations.

 He said that they have come up with an initiative that would allow youth to buy all government tender documents at half the stipulated price.  He also indicated that his ministry will soon have the YDF application forms written and filled in Setswana.  ENDS