03 Jul 2018

Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development Mr Dikgang Makgalemele has reiterated government’s commitment in developing and empowering youth.

Addressing youth from Selebi Phikwe and surrounding villages during a Youth Empowerment workshop in Travel-Inn Lodge recently, Mr Makgalemele said youth, who account for 60 per cent of the country’s population needed to take advantage of the programmes availed to empower themselves.

He said the programmes included the Youth Development Fund (YDF), Constituency Sport Tournaments, Arts and Visual Arts competitions and Culture Development programmes aimed to develop youth talents and benefit them economically.

Mr Makgalemele also encouraged youth to engage in programmes such as Open University to pursue courses such as Certificate in Small Business Management.

He also indicated that in an effort to promote youth empowerment, his ministry called on each constituency to have a Youth Empowerment Strategy to assist and empower youth.

He said his ministry had put in place youth officers in all regions to help identify opportunities for youth development and empowerment.

Youth were also called on to liaise with SPEDU to find out about business opportunities available in the region.

Principal youth officer, Ms Washa Fani expressed concern that youth in Selebi Phikwe were reluctant to utilise the Youth Development Fund (YDF).

She said the youth empowerment office received only a hand full of applications for funding.

In the Selebi Phikwe East Constituency, 175 youth attended the YDF orientation programme however only three project proposals were submitted for funding while in the Selebi Phikwe West Constituency, 182 youth took part in the exercise and only 17 youth submitted proposals for funding.

The Mayor of Selebi Phikwe, Mr Molosiwa Molosiwa said his town was facing a challenge of scarcity of jobs, especially after the closure of the BCL Mine, which was the main economic contributor in the region.

He therefore called on the youth to come up with viable business ideas and request for funding through the YDF to start their own businesses, create employment for other youth and play a role in resuscitating the local economy.

He also called the youth to combat the problem of drugs and alcohol abuse, which he said had become a problem.

During the empowerment workshop, organisations such as LEA, CEDA, Department of Cooperatives and Selebi Phikwe Technical College made presentations on various business concepts under their organisations.

The IEC sensitised attendants about the election process and the importance of registering to vote while the District Health Management Team (DHMT) touched on health issues and the impact of HIV/AIDS in society. ENDS