| Note to editors: The following speech was delivered by the DA KZN Youth Leader, Bradwyn Marnce, at the 2020 KZN Youth Virtual Parliament Sitting today. |
At this youth parliament, we are reminded of the strength and courage of young people of 1976, as young people, we will forever be grateful and draw strength from the courage and the determination shown by young people of 1976. We commend and salute this great generation of youngsters who were conscious enough to take action against the injustice of the time.
In the Shadow of the Covid– 19 pandemic, we find ourselves as young people at the risks of never finding work again.
The youth in our Province remain a critical stakeholder of a society that needs to be empowered for a prosperous future filled with opportunities for all.
As young people we must be at the forefront of this fight, at the forefront of every government initiative, to ensure that the government prioritises young people when they allocate resources. We must confront head-on the rising youth unemployment, racism, corruption, gender-based violence and the new Covid-19 pandemic.
Unemployment is expected to rise drastically in the next coming months due to the impact of Covid-19. The people that will be affected the most by this is the youth. The KwaZulu Natal government has no solid plan to assist young people during this time. According to the Chamber of Commerce, in South Africa, the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 50% from 29%.
It is a fact that we have a broken Government and a Broken System that must be addressed, We must remember that employment creation starts at the national government and the policies it implements. What is evident and what we see today is the government’s inability to implement policies and systems that will assist young people in the fight against unemployment.
As the DA Youth, we call on the KZN Government to work on the following interventions alongside the national government to alleviate unemployment:
• Petition the President to ensure a reduction in data prices for registered unemployed youths.
-Young people in our Province do not have access to the internet
– It is a reality young people of KZN have no access to jobs because of high data cost and what is more shocking is that we have inadequate internet facilities at our FET colleagues in the province.
• Stimulate demand for youth labour through the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI)
-We calling on all business to make use of these initiative, and call on government to access its role in enforcing it, all business are encourage to be tax compliant so that many young people can access the job market.
• Advocate for targeted support for micro-entrepreneurs in the informal economy to enable them to operate safely in the time of COVID-19.
-Government must incentivise this sector as it suffers dearly due covid – 19 pandemic government must recognise the potential of this sector providing employment
• Focus on instilling an entrepreneurial mindset and expanding support and incentives for youth-owned businesses and co-operatives.
Yesterday, during the KZN’s premier address where I was invited as the youth leader of DA in the province of KwaZulu Natal but was deliberately muted from speaking by the chairperson, MEC and ANCYL KZN Chairperson Kwazi Mshengu, Hon Sihle Zikalala boasted about the 2019 youth KZN business fund. The KZN premier’s youth business fund of R70 million was first launched in early 2019. The DA Youth in KZN has however recently learnt with great shock and disappointment that almost R17 million from this 2019 fund has still not been disbursed to the youth-owned businesses that had successfully applied for the grant.
-We have also found that the beneficiaries listed on the document are untraceable
-We demand transparency on the application process for the business fund relief
-We demand answers as to why 17 million Rand has not been dispersed at the end of this financial year.
-It is clear to us that the province failed to implement this project we demand that oversight be done on the beneficiaries listed on the document.
It is our considered view that small owned businesses will ultimately play a fundamental role in creating jobs for young people. It is for this reason that we supported the youth business fund initiative. The focus should be on instilling an entrepreneurial mindset and expanding support and incentives for youth-owned businesses and co-operatives.
We want to use this opportunity to further emphasize our youth employment proposal which was first initiated in 2013, that Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) could be a needed intervention in the labour market aimed at stimulating demand for youth labour. The policy gives firms a tax credit for hiring individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 years. The wage subsidy implicit in the ETI lowers the cost of the young, inexperienced worker to employers without lowering the wages of the workers themselves. This in is our view will benefit millions of unemployed youth in KZN.
With these many challenges facing the youth of our province, the consistent killings of women and children in our society will not be tolerated by young people. One of our key proposals is that there be a speedy service and enforcement of protection orders through alternative means to avoid lengthy delays often resulting from backlogs and lack of capacity at SAPS stations to ensure that victims are immediately protected after a protection order is issued. We expect everyone young and old to channel their energy into fighting for jobs, fair opportunities and building a united and prosperous province of Kwazulu – Natal.
In addition, we would like the KZN Government to adopt new innovative ways to improve the functioning of the economy, In the western cape where the DA governs we have ensured that independent electricity service providers can exist in the province, thus creating new employment opportunities and a functional province.
The DA in the western cape has launched its one-stop-shop, for young people where young people can visit our offices and access opportunities to make them more employable in the job market.
The DA Youth call upon the youth of KZN to join us in standing up against unemployment and demand a better today and tomorrow, As the youth of our country remains a critical stakeholder of a society that needs to be empowered for a prosperous future filled with opportunities for all.