The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, its agency, National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in partnership with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will launched Youth Month on Thursday, 02 June in Soweto.
The Media Launch began at Morris Isaacson High School which was then followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the Hector Peterson Memorial. Thereafter, a Media Conference was held at Uncle Tom’s Community Hall which allowed for the youth month calendar of events to be unpacked.
The 46th anniversary of 16 June 1976 will be commemorated under the theme: Promoting sustainable livelihoods and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow.
Present at the Launch was NYDA CEO Mr Waseem Carrim; June 16 Foundation Activist Mr Oupa Moloto; South African Youth Council President Mr Oagile Louw; NYDA Executive Chairperson Ms Asanda Luwaca and Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Addressing the media on the impact of recent events on youth, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities; Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said: “The devastation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our livelihoods and social mobility.
We have also been faced with challenges of widespread unrest, increasing youth unemployment, raging fires in the Western Cape, the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, and the second pandemic of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). The reality is that the youth continue to bear the brunt of structural inequalities that manifest in violent ways.”
Youth Month is dedicated exclusively to issues affecting the youth of South Africa, including but not limited to unemployment, Gender-Based –Violence and Femicide (GBVF) and mental health.
NYDA Executive Chairperson, Ms Asanda Luwaca spoke to the mainstreaming of youth development across all areas of government, private sector, business, and civil society.
Youth empowerment requires collective responsibility, and to achieve that, all sectors must report on their programmes incorporating youth development. “I am strongly of the view that, we no longer as a country have the luxury to just talk about youth development but have the collective responsibility to make sure that it is tangible,” said Ms Luwaca.
Addressing and responding to high youth unemployment in the country, Minister Nkoana-Mashabane said: “We must harness the potential of our youthful population. This includes the political will by government and captains of industry to ensure an integration of youth across all strategic sectors of our society, especially the economy.”
Over the next four weeks, government will be involved in a number of events and dialogues with the youth to honour the sacrifices of the 1976 youth, while charting a path forward to tackle the present- day challenges facing them.
This year, June 16, will be celebrated in the Eastern Cape. His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the keynote address.
We welcome government, civil society, business, and youth formations to share their activities in recognition of Youth Month on social media platforms and using the hashtag #YouthMonth2022.
Source: Government of South Africa