16 Jan 2017

Kgosi Itekeng Mathangwane of Mathangwane says out-of -school youth should always strive to engage in long lasting empowerment initiatives.
Speaking in an interview with BOPA recently, he expressed a concern that some of the out-of-school youth seem to be discouraged and giving up on their lives.

He said failure to excel academically should not make them despair, but should be a wake-up call for them to come up with plans that would lead to means of positively transforming their standard of living.

“It has come to my attention that most of the out-of-school youth here seems to be giving up on finding ways to improve their wellbeing,” he said.

Kgosi Mathangwane said some of them engaged in unruly practices such as crime related activities, while others engaged in unplanned marriages and unsound odd jobs so as to make ends meet.

He said youth should engage in activities that were more challenging, citing programmes such as BOCODOL, back-to-school and others, which could help close the academic gap.

Furthermore, he indicated that he was not pleased with some of the youth who also resorted to short term employment opportunities under Ipelegeng.

Kgosi Mathangwane noted that he does not despise the significant efforts that the Ipelegeng programme played towards lessening challenges of unemployment but said it was not the best measure that youth should be flocking to in high numbers.

“Though Ipelegeng plays a role in addressing challenges of unemployment, I still feel it is not the right path for the youth. Instead youth should try to engage in more challenging and long lasting initiatives such as business related projects,” he said.

He also highlighted that business related projects will expose them to more opportunities and help them be more analytical.

Kgosi Mathangwane advised some of the youth who benefited from the Youth Development Fund, whose business were not doing satisfactorily to familiarise themselves with business related entities such as Local Enterprise Authority, Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) and others related to see how they could benefit.

He further said it was wise for youth to have strategic plans that will give them direction in their attempt to seek better opportunities. BOPA