17 Oct 2018

Acting Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC), Mr Dikgang Makgalemele has implored the youth to strive to meet set standards of programmes to succeed in their endeavours.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Letlhakeng recently, Mr Makgalemele advised them that every programme had standards that should be met for one to be assisted, and that such standards would not be lowered just to accommodate the youth.

He said meeting such standards was also an indication that an applicant was serious about business.

He said Youth Development Fund (YDF) projects, just like any other business, needed owners to be around full time, and that those who still had the desire to work elsewhere should consider delaying seeking YDF until they were certain they wanted to engage in business.

He said the desire for piece jobs was one of the reasons that many youth businesses failed to take off, and also said the previous arrangement where applicants were funded on first come basis had since been reneged upon as it disadvantaged those coming from far flung areas.

On other issues, Mr Makgalemele indicated that the goal of government to empower the youth was possible provided all measures were taken to utilise initiatives in place.

He said one such measure was engagement of principal youth officers in all government ministries to ensure that youth challenges and interests were tackled in every ministry and not only by MYSC.

He said other provisions included reservation of quotas for the youth in government tenders such as livestock chasing and fire brigades as well as accelerated land allocation for youth who had been funded.

The minister, however, said he was concerned about some youth who frustrated such attempts by selling the same land that they were allocated under the special dispensation.

He said it had led to the ministry resolving to register the land under its name until it was evident that the applicant was ready to utilise it.

He advised the youth to make it a habit to visit government departments and learn more about such special provisions.

Mr Makgalemele also advised them that YDF was not the only government initiative that could empower the youth, and that they should not despair when they had been rejected.

For his part, Member of Parliament for Letlhakeng-Lephepe, Mr Liakat Kablay said although there were youths who were determined to make YDF projects successful, there were those who never showed any seriousness.

He said business by its nature was challenging and needed determination.

Mr Kablay also pleaded with the ministry to consider increasing the current P2 million per constituency funding, saying it was too little especially for broad constituencies. ENDS