15 Nov 2020

Jwaneng and Southern District Councils are committed to assisting the youth with spaces of operation to run businesses.

Speaking at the official launch of the Loan Recovery Campaign at Jwaneng on November 12, Jwaneng Township mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie indicated that the township had taken a deliberate decision to reserve 30 per cent of its stalls around town for the youth.

She said they had also partnered with a private property developer to develop the township’s piece of land next to the Shell filling station, upon which completion the youth who wanted operational space at the property would then pay rentals at a subsidised fee.

She therefore called on the youth in Jwaneng in particular to take advantage of such, and other youth in the country to also take advantage of any government assistance targeting them.

“Youth is temporary and you are not going to be young forever.

One day you will be an elder and unable to access such assistance, and that is when you will realise that you could have taken advantage when you had the opportunity.

So I would like to urge you to make hay while the sun still shines,” she noted.  

Ms Ditsie also called upon central government and council departments across the country to work as a unit to push government’s agenda as working in isolation could only make it hard to overcome challenges that come with implementation.

For his part, Southern District Council chairman, Mr Thamiso Chabalala said his council had taken a decision to encourage youth to identify open spaces in places where they wished to operate businesses and apply for it.

“We will then assess the application with the help of other relevant authorities to see if it would be in line with the land use policies. If they give the green light the applicant would then be allowed to put up a temporary structure for an agreed period,” he said.

Mr Chabalala said council was currently profiling all open spaces available within its limits and would then invite the youth to show interest in the spaces.

Meanwhile one of the beneficiaries who has successfully repaid his Youth Development Fund (YDF) loan component, Mr Tlotlego Mpudi has implored other youth to equally commit.

He said there was no denying the fact that challenges would always be there, but that they should not be used as an excuse as no business was without such.

He said the problem with most youth was that they had a sense of entitlement, a habit that he said often led to their down fall.

“This is the very same attitude that we take our products to the market with, but the open market is not government and won’t have any mercy on you.

It only bases its support on the quality of your product,” he cautioned. Ends