Create youth affairs ministry to tackle issues - Kgalema Motlanthe

Youth affairs should not be confined to an agency or a desk of advisors sitting in the presidency, according to former president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Speaking at the Nelson Mandela University's annual youth summit at South Campus on Tuesday, Motlanthe proposed that an apex youth affairs ministry be established in order to tackle issues facing the youth.

These include the handling of job opportunities for the youth and spending money on youth-related matters.

"Let us face it, all of our efforts, intervention after intervention, are failing miserably by not producing the required outcomes and addressing the underlying issues.

"Apparent structures, frameworks depend on a delivery model founded on a disconnected state and even the implementation details are lost due to the dependency on multi-layers of state agencies.

"The hegemony of the state is stifling development and implementation of a comprehensive and integrated youth development strategy," Motlanthe said.

Describing how he envisioned it would work, Motlanthe said the ministry would be responsible for youth affairs, the implementation of youth programmes and to ensure a more integrated approach.

"Budgets should be centralised by this ministry to ensure [the] delivery of the required services.

"The youth ministry must be an apex ministry responsible for education, youth development and training as well as economic development.

"The structural framework must change; the delivery of youth outcomes must be implemented at the local level.

"The youth ministry will be able to streamline and implement its programmes more efficiently and effectively integrate youth service and mechanisms, reduce implementation timelines, rationalise and optimise public budgets, deliver youth service where its needed, reduce government expenditure, and employ masses of youth and engage the radical ideas of the youth to unleash their potential," he said.

Asked if he raised the suggestion of the youth ministry with president Cyril Ramaphosa, Motlanthe said it was his first time bringing up the idea in a public space, but that he constantly suggested youth-related programmes whenever he attended the ANC's National Executive Committee lekgotlas.

"This is the platform I use to raise such issues," he said.

Also in attendance at the Youth Convention was sports, recreation, arts and culture MEC Fezeka Bayeni who represented Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane.

Bayeni said students across universities in the country were anxious about their future due to job uncertainty.

"Their anxiety is not misplaced because they see the daily struggles of graduates in our communities," she said.

Bayeni announced a R150m intervention by the provincial government to upskill the youth through the Isiqalo Youth Fund to support youth-owned businesses.

"We'll accordingly focus our investment on six key areas which are manufacturing, agricultural production, Oceans economy, skills development and youth employment and then tourism, creative arts and township development," Bayeni said.

Speaking about the convention, NMU vice-chancellor Sibongile Muthwa said the new thinking should be about developing youth capabilities and letting young people thrive.

"Most importantly, the cultivation of ideas that propel them to the front and influence scheduled change in society," Muthwa said.

Muthwa said the phase of development as a country did not only require consistent leadership but transcendental leadership that had an appreciation for the dynamic context within which it functioned.

"This period calls for unbounded leadership, young people who are prepared to work beyond the narrow boundaries of their institutions.

"The people's calls for a new generation of leaders driven by a deep sense of commitment to serve a cause much larger than themselves who are curious and in search of alternative ideas for inclusivity," she said.