Manamela tells youth to 'seize opportunities'

Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Buti Manamela has encourage youth to take advantage of the various schemes that government has in place to provide them with jobs that can be sustained. Image: GCIS

"As government, we would like to encourage the youth to reach for the opportunities that government has availed to them. Young people have great ideas and we would like to see them exploring them," he said.

Manamela, who is the Deputy Minister of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation responsible for Youth Development as well as the Administration of the Presidency, visited Siyaphumelela Cooperative Development Project (SCDP) in Orange Farm, just outside Johannesburg.

The recycling cooperative enterprise is owned by young people. They received a grant from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to purchase equipment for their business. Members of the co-op are also beneficiaries of Siyaphumelela entrepreneurship scheme and use some of the other services offered by the NYDA.

Separation

Employees separate bottles from paper and other waste material for recycling purposes. Xolani Sikhakhane, one of the project leaders, said they would like see the project growing so it could employ more people as there are currently just 21 full-time workers.

The Siyaphumelela Cooperative pays individual waste collectors to bring rubbish to the centre where employees separate it so it can be recycled. Image: SA Breaking News

Sikhakhane said the plan is to grow from a small emerging cooperative into a sustainable waste management entity. Sikhakhane said some of the locals depend on the project to put food on the table for their families.

Local waste collectors bring the waste materials to the recycling site and get paid according to weight of the collected waste.

NYDA Deputy Executive Chairman Kenny Morolong said they will continue to assist young people to start their own businesses.

"We are working with government and municipalities to ensure that young people access our services," he said.

The NYDA Grant Programme is designed to provide young people with an opportunity to access both financial and business development support and has provided about R25m in support grants for more than 500 new businesses.