07 Aug 2019

The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele, says his ministry targets an annual average of 1 140 jobs. 

This is based on an estimate of projects creating a minimum of one job each.

He told Parliament on August 6 that some businesses were able to create two jobs or more depending on the type of business and how profitable it was. 

He also said the target of 1 140 was dependent on funding individual businesses, that is, without youth industries that required funds in excess of 100 000, which was the maximum limit of an individually owned business.

He further told  Parliament that P2 million allocated to Youth Development Fund (YDF) per constituency was not adequate to address youth challenges. 

However, the objective of the YDF and the rationale behind the P2 million must be understood in the context of providing financial assistance to start up the business with a potential to grow and create employment opportunities.

He indicated that all youth funded businesses who wanted capital injection for their businesses, other government funding agencies such as the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) were available to assist.

He further said Parliament must appreciate that the YDF was not the only government programme that could solve challenges affecting the youth and also said youth had many challenges that were cross cutting and which were therefore beyond the scope of the YDF alone.

“The ministry is currently working with the United Nations Development Programme to conduct a holistic review of the YDF programme with a view to make it more effective,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Makgalemele said the review would inform the ministry about areas to improve on the programme including the amount of funding, once the review has been completed, Parliament would  be informed accordingly.

He was responding to a question from Nata-Gweta MP, Mr Polson Majaga who had asked the minister to provide an update on the targeted jobs to be created given that  YDF applications were open. ENDS