18 Jul 2021

Government is concerned that the youth, who are faced with a serious challenge of unemployment, are not utilising government schemes such as Youth Development Fund (YDF), says Tati East MP, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe.

Speaking at a YDF workshop in Siviya on July 17, Dr Letsholathebe urged the youth in his constituency to use available government policies and programmes to improve their living standards.

Dr Letsholathebe, who is also the Minister of Research, Science and Technology, told the 40 youth from Themashanga, Tsamaya, Siviya and Jackals NO 2 who attended the workshop, that government was committed to supporting them as long as they were also committed and responsible in whatever they did to improve their living.

He said as the country was moving away from being a mineral based economy to a knowledge based economy, it was the responsibility of everyone to play a role in this transformation.
Dr Letsholathebe also explained that government wanted to see the country being a private sector-led economy to grow the economy.

He also informed those who want to venture into small stock industry to utilise the Impala Research centre.
He said that the government had identified a goat and sheep market in the Middle East and this gave small stock farmers in the northern region an advantage to sell their small stock to the Francistown abattoir, which would soon be opened for slaughtering goats and sheep.

He therefore appealed to farmers in the northern region to venture into small stock industry to improve their lives saying the industry had good returns in a short period of time.
He informed the youth that very soon he would organise a benchmarking trip for them to the Lobu ranch.  
Dr Letsholathebe also urged those who would receive funding under the YDF programme to service their loans so that others could also be assisted.

Dr Letsholathebe also promised to donate a goat for each of those who attended the workshop, adding that some of the goats were those that had been donated to the constituency by the President.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Louis Siviya of Siviya underscored the need to utilise government policies and programmes, urging the youth not to solely rely on the Ipelegeng programme as government had come up with good schemes aimed at improving their lives.

He urged those who would be assisted under the YDF not to misuse the funds but to venture into businesses, which could improve their lives.
He also advised them to follow up their applications so that they could be assisted on time, adding that some of the schemes were not permanent.

Speaking at the same event, an official from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development, Mr Master Johnson, said a lot of beneficiaries of the YDF programme in the North East District were failing to service their loans.
He said that most of those who benefited had either abandoned or neglected their business and ventured into something else and were not traceable.  BOPA.