Moretele Local Municipality Mayor, Councillor Masango George Manyike, launched The Moretele Youth Council on 10 June 2022 with the aim of encouraging youngsters to take advantage of government opportunities.
Speaking at the event, Moretele Municipality MMC for Local Economic Development, Councilor Matshekele, said the budget of R200 000 allocated for the Youth Council is not enough to address youth challenges in Moretele Municipality.
“This budget is a betrayal of our generational mission and we urge the officials in the Municipality to re-think the budget. We require talent development and we have confidence in the Mayor that he will address the R200 000 budget allocated for the Youth Council.,” he said.
He said the Municipality should also indicate how many youths it employs and how many can be taken in as a contribution to reducing youth unemployment. He also said there should be significant growth in the bids that are won by the youth and to reduce the corruption that is perpetuated by the same people winning tenders from the municipality.
“They don’t care about us, so we’re taking back what is rightfully ours as youth and we want to see young people running this municipality in senior positions. My task will be to collect the stats on the number of youth employed by the municipality and those who are doing business with the municipality so that we can see if there is an economic shift in the youth running the municipality.
The aim of the Youth Council is also for the youth to create jobs for themselves rather than becoming job seekers.
Mr Sipho Ngwenya, a Director at the Municipality said the Youth Council should assist in producing future leaders by developing the youth today.
“As the leaders of this municipality, we will ensure that the youth is supported and that our developmental programs are successful in reducing unemployment, the high crime rates, and Gender-Based Violence. We need to restore hope to all people and we understand that they require support and direction. We need to get our youth away from substance abuse and ensure that the youth value education as a tool to grow the community.
“We need to strengthen the social compact in growing the economy and making sure that no one is left behind,” he’s said.
Mr Sir Max gave a motivational talk at the event to encourage the youth to think out of the box and dream big.
Moretele Municipality’s youth expressed appreciation for the event and said they are hopeful that their hardships will be addressed. Local DJs and artists entertained the youth at the event.
