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The
Gauteng provincial government will double the number of young
graduates it takes for learnership programmes, premier Mbhazima
Shilowa said yesterday.
Addressing a Youth Day gathering in Soweto, Shilowa said young
graduates in Gauteng would form 8% of the workforce of the
province's government by 2006.
"Where will our kids get experience if they are not given a
chance?" he asked a packed Orlando Stadium.
The crowd, which included MECs and municipal councillors, were
commemorating June 16, 1976, the day the schoolchildren's uprising
against apartheid began.
"We will give a chance to young people who have degrees but no
experience," Shilowa said, adding that the government understood
the need for employment.
He said 4% of the people currently working for the provincial
government represented the youth, and he intended to double the
figure.
Gauteng would produce matriculants in mathematics, science and
technology. All schools would have internet connections by 2006,
the premier said.
Thousands of other people watched proceedings from a big screen
outside the stadium. Artists like Pitch Black Afro and Mzekezeke
entertained the crowd.
Earlier yesterday, more than 300 people laid wreaths at the Hector
Peterson memorial as part of Youth Day celebrations.
Peterson, then aged 13, was shot dead by police in the 1976
uprising. He was the first victim of that event.
Leading the solemn proceedings at the site where Peterson was
killed, Johannesburg council speaker Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said the
occasion was to salute thousands of young people who gave their
lives for the cause of freedom.
"We honour these young revolutionaries, the torch bearers of our
revolution," she said.
"We also celebrate achievements made by young people and highlight
challenges like HIV/Aids, unemployment and poverty."
As the proceedings were underway, a busload of youngsters chanting
liberation songs and clad in African National Congress T-shirts
drove past the memorial site to the nearby Orlando stadium.
Family members of the those who died during the uprising were also
present at the memorial site.
After the ceremony, delegates proceeded to Orlando Stadium, where
various activities involving were taking place to entertain the
youth.
These included a performance by a group of young drum majorettes,
aerobics and a sport tournament. – Sapa.
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