The following speeches were delivered today in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature by the DA’s Shadow MEC for Economic Development, Janet Semple MPL, and Spokesperson for Finance, Ashor Sarupen MPL during the debate on the motion with regard to the role of GPG Departments in supporting Youth Empowerment and Development.
Speech by
Janet Semple MPL
Gauteng ANC-led administration has not done enough to curb youth unemployment
- Statistics SA recently released damning figures that tell a painful story about our youth. Black youths endure the hardest life today. Statistician-general Pali Lehohla described it as a “cocktail of disaster”.
- In June this year, SA’s unemployment rate hit a 13 year high. The youth unemployment rate rose by 1.6 percentage which points to 38.6% with 58% of unemployed people aged between 15 and 34.
- The Youth Accelerator Programme run by the Department of Economic Development has a budget of R20 million for the 2017/18 financial year and one of their objectives is to create access to markets for the youth owned businesses in Gauteng.
- Other young entrepreneurs are also developing exciting new products in our Province. Watch the space around the Soweto Cooling Towers. No money needed there but support and opening of doors would be appreciated.
- Red tape is a big hindrance to SMMEs and all departments in this Province need to look at a programme like the Western Cape’s From Red Tape to Red Carpet. This programme saved the Western Cape over R600 million rand last year, money that can be ploughed back into entrepreneurship.
- The youth of this Province, whether they are unemployed or trying to succeed as entrepreneurs, need the support of everyone in this Province if they are to make it in life and it is up to all of us to make sure that happens.
The full speech can be obtained here.
Speech by
Ashor Sarupen MPL
ANC has failed to empower the youth with Fourth Industrial Revolution
- The interventions discussed by the ANC, indeed the paradigm the ANC is obsessed with, is that of the second industrial revolution. This outdated thinking, in which economic thought is drawn from the turn of the last century, has woefully failed our youth.
- None of the interventions discussed by the ANC today have made a meaningful impact on these persistent, systemic and wicked problems. The reality is that the ANC has failed to adjust its thinking, away from the second industrial revolution to the fourth. This is why, as we speak, by narrow definition, more than half of our young people are not able to use their talents and productive energy to better their own lives.
- The ANC’s 1994 election manifesto, ironically, showed that the party was once capable of paradigm shifts, but, since 2009 the ability of the ANC to think, learn, change its minds and adopt policies for the modern era has declined.
- The ANC now serves the Gupta family, not the youth of South Africa, and this is why, in 2019, the country will undertake a paradigm shift and boot the ANC out of office, and elect a government that will ensure that our youth are given the skills and knowledge they need to compete in the fourth industrial revolution.
The full speech can be obtained here.