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A security officer seen next to a ‘no jobs’ board.
National Youth Development Agency has launched a R2.5 billion National Youth Fund to tackle unemployment. The announcement was made at a Youth Investment Indaba in Johannesburg.
The agency’s Deputy Chairperson, Bonga Makhanya, says investment in the fund will be sourced both locally and internationally for the next three years.
According to Makhaya this will allow the agency to fund larger investments.
He says the aim is to support sustainable enterprises in key sectors including mining, agriculture, and manufacturing.
“Today, we begin our campaign to attract both local and international investments into South Africa, but particularly for young people who want to have a key role in strategic sectors of the economy. As the NYDA has a new board, we will drive that approach and drive that new strategy to make sure that young people now are elevated in terms of the type of support and assistance that they get from the NYDA.”
The event is hosted under the theme: “The road to a National Youth Fund”.
Gauteng’s Finance and Economic Development MEC, Lebogang Maile, has pledged the province’s full support for the newly announced fund. He says the province will collaborate with National Treasury and the NYDA to design effective governance structures and called on the private sector to co-invest.
“We will work with NYDA and National Treasury to design fund governance structures that are agile, accountable, and responsive to the realities of youth entrepreneurship, not bureaucratic obstacles that delay deployment of capital. We will mobilise Gauteng’s private sector, which controls the majority of South Africa’s institutional capital to co-invest alongside the National Youth Fund through innovative blended finance instruments.”
VIDEO | A discussion on youth unemployment in SA:
Meanwhile, Deputy President, Paul Mashatile says young people must not listen to those who are rallying against the BBBEE Act. This comes after calls were made to scrap related legislation. Mashatile says he is against the scrapping of the BBBEE Act because it is a force that ensures that the previously disadvantaged are economically included.
“We continue to support the BBBEE Act to be implemented because it has proven effective. There are, of course, challenges that we must deal with, but we’re not going to scrap it.”
VIDEO | DA’s proposal to scrap BBBEE Act:
