Speaking on the side-lines of the fifth ANC national general council held at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Ancyl second deputy secretary-general and ANC Free State PEC member Olga Seate emphasised both government and the private sector must play a collaborative role in ensuring job security for young people.

While the ANC has introduced measures to ease entry into the labour market, including government gazettes relaxing years of experience requirements for certain positions, these legislative gains have not yet translated into meaningful long-term employment for youth, she noted.

“In terms of achievements, the ANC has published a number of gazettes – pieces of legislation that set out several years of experience required at entry level for serious positions of responsibility in government.” She said the Ancyl has won that battle legislatively.

However, she stressed the real challenge lies in ensuring that young people not only access skills programmes, but also secure sustainable employment.

“We have managed to secure many learnerships and apprenticeships across government departments, but we have not yet achieved the full livelihood of a young person straight out of university being absorbed into a government department, a state entity, or even the private sector with a permanent job – and that remains missing.

“Legislatively, we are satisfied with that. I can speak about many of these, including the presidential segment that provides for public-private partnership initiatives to ensure engagement with the private sector as well. 

‘The aim is not only for government to be seen as the main actor’

“The aim is not only for government to be seen as the main actor, but also to ensure that these pieces of legislation are effectively implemented.”

Earlier this year, the Free State Ancyl marched to Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae’s office, demanding that the provincial government declare youth unemployment a disaster. 

The league argued that the deepening crisis continues to marginalise the majority of young people in the province and requires urgent intervention.

The Ancyl submitted a set of bold demands that it believes could reverse unemployment trends. These include:

• an emergency allocation of R3 billion to create 50,000 immediate youth job opportunities;
• the creation of 150,000 youth jobs by 2027;
• the establishment of a R5 billion youth industrial fund; and
• the introduction of public employment skills programmes with decent wages, rejecting the current EPWP structure that pays R1,500 per month.

The league maintains without decisive action and genuine partnership between the state and private sector, South Africa risks failing another generation of young people.

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OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi cvs