Western Cape social development MEC Albert Fritz launched the province's first Youth Café in Mitchells Plain - a township on the outskirts of Cape Town ravaged by gangsterism and drugs.
The Youth Café forms part of the Democratic Alliance (DA)-led administration's plan to address youth unemployment by connecting young people to developmental and entrepreneurial opportunities.
It functions as a networking centre with Internet facilities.
Youth unemployment remains a major challenge for the government, and ahead of the elections, the issue has taken centre stage as political parties vie for the crucial youth vote.
Last year, Fritz announced that Youth Cafés would be established in various malls around the province. He said a total of nine cafés would be set up in Athlone, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Atlantis and Bredasdorp as part of a pilot project.
The Western Cape government partnered with Reconstructed Living Lab, a non-governmental organisation, which is facilitating the project.
Speaking at the launch, Fritz said that the province's youth development budget had grown exponentially, from a base of only R2m two years ago, to more than R30m this year.
He said that the 2011 census had shown that there were almost 3.6m people younger than 34 in the Western Cape.
"If we break that figure down further, about 1.1m are young people aged between 14 and 25. This age cohort is the target of our newly approved Provincial Youth Development Strategy.
"This comprehensive and detailed youth development strategy will guide all our programmes that target young people," Fritz said.
He said it was envisaged that the strategy's most enduring outcome would be that by the age of 25, all young people in the Western Cape should be "economically self-sufficient and independent, healthy, with positive family, personal and social relationships and should be active in their community".
"In pursuing these goals for young people, the strategy identifies a wide range of services, programmes and support for young people that will ensure that they have access to the kinds of opportunities they need for their own development," Fritz said.
He emphasised that the Youth Café was not an "employment café". Instead, he said, it would put the youth on a path to be pioneers in creating opportunities not only for themselves, but for others too.
Fritz said it was recognised that government was not adequately meeting the needs of young people in South Africa.
"Over the years we have seen youth imbizos, workshops, conferences and rallies.These gave rise to youth focal points, job shops, career centres and so forth. However, after all of that, we still sit with a situation where out of all the unemployed people in this country, more than 70% are under the age of 35. In other words, the bulk of the unemployed people in this country are our youth.
"That is a sobering reality, but also a tell-tale sign that somewhere along the line, the youth are falling through the cracks," Fritz said.
He said there was a need to go back to the drawing board to find out exactly what the developmental needs of young people were and how government could best support these.
Fritz said the Youth Café was a space that was designed to give young people access to opportunities, while at the same time unleashing their potential, channelling their energy and mentoring them in a way that they can identify with, in a language that the youth speak.
Also speaking at the launch, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said young people in the city had been neglected, especially in communities "where life is sometimes hard".
"Indeed, that neglect helps foster the conditions in which gangsterism, violence and drugs thrive. Working with communities, it's up to government to get involved and be a part of the solution," De Lille said.
She said the Youth Café was an important development for the province.
Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge
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