16 Feb 2016

Youth in Gumare had asked for representation in the committee responsible for reviewing and approving their applications for funding.

Speaking yesterday during a meeting organised by the Department of youth and village councilors, one of the youth, Mr Japhet John said that their involvement and their presence during these decisions will help as they will be able to highlight to other young people why their proposals were turned down.

He said in the previous years, they used to be involved, therefore they ask for that arrangement to be put back in place.

Mr John also asked for a recreational park since already there is a plot.

He said the reason why youth engage in alcohol abuse and drugs, is because there is no forum where they meet as youth and exchange ideas, or even help each other with business ideas.

Most of the youth present complained about the service offered by officers indicating that their ideas are always turned down and also that they do not accept their business ideas.

They also said there was not enough information concerning programmes.

Head of the department at the department of youth Mr Alfred Ditsele said that the objective for the meeting was to establish the grounds for low uptake of Youth Development Fund programme where he stated that only 17 were received.

He also stated that the meeting was to establish the collapse of projects. He said about 20 projects has collapsed.

He also said that as they stated that there was not enough information regarding programmes the gathering was to notify them about programmes such as the District Sports festival, youth industries, youth cooperatives and many more.

Councilor for Gumare/ Tubu South Mr Keobinetse Matenanga urged the youth to attend Kgotla meetings.

He said to understand youth programmes it was imperative to pull up their socks regarding showing up at the meetings because he said they were showing up in small numbers.

He also encouraged them to be persistent and ask for assistance whenever they need help. Ends