14 Dec 2020

 Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) has urged youth funded businesses to be receptive during arranged monitoring and evaluation visits. 

Speaking in an interview with BOPA, the ministry’s chief public relations officer, Mr Thobo Tlhasana said their attempts to reach out to some youth-funded businesses had proved to be almost impossible.

Mr Tlhasana highlighted that this was so because often business owners perceived officers from MYSC to always be on the hunt for repayments for the monies due to the ministry. 

He said the enterprise–based visits addressed more than just loan repayment issues; citing business performance assessments and business continuity measures, as well as assisting with market access as one of the many reasons for stopovers, especially during the COVID-19 era. 

Mr Tlhasana stated that they understood the impact that the pandemic has had on businesses, therefore, the set visits were important to afford both the client and the ministry  a chance to reflect on issues and present ideal solutions. 

Meanwhile, Mr Tlhasana expressively underlined his disappointment, particularly towards Youth Development Fund businesses that were failing to pay their outstanding debts, yet reports had proved that they were successful in their lines of operation.

 “Mind you there is a clause within the Memorandum of Understanding that suggests that legal actions can be taken against defaulters/non-payers,” he said. 

He said what was worrisome was the fact that the ministry had been cautioned on annual budget slashes and non-compliance to loan repayments was one paramount reason for such action.

This will have an impact on assisting more youth to start their own ventures because now it means only a few would be assisted yearly.

He said this called for funded clients to understand the problems that came with their non-compliance to set loan agreements.  

The liquidation process was one of the interventions that Mr Tlhasana said they would consider as the last resort, particularly when a business demonstrated lesser chances of survival. 

He added that this was a mutual agreement to be reached by both the client and ministry, however, saying that it should remain the last option where the company assets would be auctioned to recover monies owed. 

Mr Tlhasana said the ministry would take legal action against funded businesses not stepping up to honour their outstanding debt, stating that they might even be forced to contact all companies in contractual agreements with such a business to abolish the contract on reasons presented.

He reiterated that already there had been a clear instruction from the Office of the President to hunt down all defaulters and recover all monies owed. ends