By More Matshediso
BLOEMFONTEIN – There are conflicting opinions whether youth need agencies, leagues and subsidies targeted at uplifting them from the tangle of joblessness.
The debate comes in the light of assertions that existing schemes fail to cope with demand from enterprising young people who are left out of the loop.
About 88 per cent of the Free State population comprises youths and more than 70 per cent of them are unemployed. These figures apparently show skewed economic conditions in the province since young people are regarded as the lifeblood of the country even when aspiring entrepreneurs apply for financial assistance to implement business ideas, many of them fail to access help because their applications are turned down without feedback.
“The youth are really in desperate need of representation. Only a few of them get what they apply for and it is mostly those affiliated to certain political parties that do, and this applies to both youth and adults,” the chairperson of Mangaung Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Nancy De Sousa, said. “If you are not in the right affiliation or do not have connections, you are out. If any are going to be selected for subsidies it will be those affiliated to certain parties,” she added.
In July this year, BonganiMagongo of National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) revealed that the South African population is made up of young people below the age of 35, and national statistics on the labour force indicate that the majority of the unemployed labour force is young people.
“Business ownership amongst the youth is very low compared to the proportion of youth population in the country. Sources of start-up capital for young entrepreneurs is either from their savings or family and most young entrepreneurs that are self- taught are unaware of the institutions that provide entrepreneurship support.”
He said most youth started their businesses because they could not find jobs or saw opportunities to make money. The biggest obstacles for their businesses are space, finance and competition. Thapelo Mokoatsi, a student in Africa studies at the University of Free State said young people need youth leagues because they are the breeding ground of political leadership of any political party.
He cited veteran nationalists Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu who formed the ANCYL as an organ of the mother body, the ANC as an example “Agencies such as National Youth Development Agency, to some extent Love Life are important in developing young talent in terms of entrepreneurship, education, and community development. Subsidies are also another way government could meet its citizens halfway, especially youth,” he said.
He said government looked at how many young people have higher education qualification and how many are semi-skilled. “Ideally, one would expect that higher education should be subsidised because we already have many challenges as far as our education system is concerned. Many skilled and semi-skilled youth would benefit a lot from both the agencies and the subsidies programme.
With regard to the youth leagues, their role amongst others should be to mobilize youth in order to push the agenda of youth empowerment,” he added. But ShupingMokgothu feels that the format that the current youth leagues are using is not in the line with objectives they want to achieve. He said youth clubs are also critical for grass root moral development and although political parties have youth wings, it is critical to specify their role in society.
“The problem here is constituencies, I think the problems youth faced could be attended to better if we can have a youth department just like we have department of women and children and people with disabilities. The department would focus on youth needs regardless of their affiliation” said Mokgothu.
Head of Department of Sociology in University of Free State, Dr SethulegoMatebisi, said the country needed youth leagues as they could play a huge role in the fight against poverty and enhancing the capabilities of youth in their attempt to be self-reliant. He said youth of today, as represented by the youth leagues of different political parties, do not instil hope for many others. “Coverage of issues related to the youth is dominated by the ANC Youth League and Young Communists League of South Africa. I am not convinced
that the youth leagues currently play any significant role beyond using such structures as a means of survival at the expense of advancement of the youth in general,” said Matebisi.
He said if the only success stories about youth leagues are those which are kept at the office. “Simply put, the youth of today borders largely on protest politics and squandering valuable time at ineffective talk shops,” he added.
Matebisi said since the establishment of NYDA which has the mandate to “advance youth development through guidance and support to initiatives across sectors of society and spheres of government,” a fair degree of hope has been generated among the youth.
“For many youths in South Africa, the NYDA and other youth agencies have failed dismally in empowering them both socially and economically for a better life. World-class agencies such as the NYDA, together with all their noble intentions, have become what I call ‘a cow to be milked’.
He said in the high stakes game of economic survival today, it was not the unwillingness of the youth to participate in activities that will ensure their economic emancipation, but the ill-conceived ideas of the individuals leading youth agencies Matebisi said the people who are currently benefitting from these agencies are the politically-connected, including an extended web of families, friends and partners.
He said it was illogical that most of youth’s business plans never get funded simply on the basis of not being connected with anybody.
“The youth of South Africa need not remain hungry. With increased investment in youth initiatives, better youth policies and apolitical and competent leaders within public youth agencies, the country can achieve the desired economic revolution,” he added. But the branch manager of NYDA in Bloemfontein, KagishoMokae argued that the NYDA helped every young person despite their political affiliation.
“Since April 2012 we have managed to fund 23 young entrepreneurs in the Free State region, provided 466 youth with development training and 10 666 school learners with career guidance and also approved 77 vouchers including business plans and marketing plans,” Mokae said.
In the case of youth leagues, FezileSonkwane, spokesperson of Young Communist League of South Africa said his league was active particularly in the education sector and other youth programmes, irrespective of ideological perspective.
Youth organizations, he added, were important primarily because they championed youth interests. “Young people who are not affiliated to any youth leagues are missing out a lot because youth structures are the relevant platform to address whatever youth challenges that are out there.,” Sonkwane said.
“Young people must join youth leagues to play a meaningful role in championing interest of young people. Our outlook is to benefit the society at large not ourselves as individuals.”