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SA: Andries Nel: Address by Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, at the Community Works Programme, Mogalakwena, Limpopo during Youth Month (30/06/2015)

SA: Andries Nel: Address by Deputy Minister of  Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, at the Community Works Programme, Mogalakwena, Limpopo during Youth Month (30/06/2015)

3rd July 2015

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Executive Mayor of Waterberg District Municipality, Cllr Rosina Mogotlane
Mayor of Mogalakwena Municipality, Cllr Parks Sebatjane
Local Reference Committee (LRCs)
Councillors
Traditional Leadership Traditional Councils
Communities of Thabaleshoba and Rebone villages
Government officials
Non-Government Organisations
Faith Based Organisations
CWP participants
Dhladhla Foundation (Implementing Agent for CWP)

It is an honour to be here today on the last day of Youth Month. I’m glad to say I’ve spent the last month visiting a number of Community Work Programme sites across the country. I am inspired by young people across South Africa.

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Through the CWP, the youth of our country are building a better future each day, not only for themselves, but also for their communities. The youth are following in the footsteps of the youth of 1976 who tackled the challenges of their time head on.

Today’s challenges are unemployment, inequality and poverty. The youth of our country are tackling these through the CWP. Your work gives us confidence to say that, indeed, "Youth is Moving South Africa Forward."

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The CWP was established by government to help deal with the challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

This is a caring government that listens to the people. It is a government that helps people to help themselves.

CWP is part of many government programme that help create work opportunities, skills and community development: Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), National Rural Youth (NARYSEC), Working for Water, Working on Fire.

CWP provides an employment safety net for the poorest of the poor. CWP provides a basic level of income security through work.

CWP addresses poverty and unemployment while other government policies that create decent work are being implemented. CWP gives special attention to women and young people.

The CWP supplements government’s social grants programme. CWP puts R1,4 billion rand into the pockets and onto the tables of more than 200 000 participants. Over the five years of this administration the CWP will put R5,6 billion into the pockets of the poorest of the poor.

CWP is a community based programme. People in the area help to decide on the kind of work needed.

This work could be looking after orphans and vulnerable children, helping sick people, assisting teachers at schools. It could also be looking after children while their parents are at work. It could also involve working with the local police to improve safety and reduce crime.

We will establish at least one CWP site in every local and metropolitan municipality by the end of 2016/17. In 2013/14 there were 148 CWP sites, in 140 municipalities.  By the end of 2014/15, we added an additional 37 CWP sites in 19 municipalities. There are now 185 sites in 159 municipalities, covering 2302 wards.

This financial year we will establish sites in a further 30 municipalities bringing the total number of CWP sites to 220.

CWP has created 202 634 work opportunities during the 2014/15 financial year, in the entire country. We want to create 1 million work opportunities by 2019.

In the past financial year 43 634 CWP participants benefitted from training opportunities offered by the programme. CWP has helped skill participants to start their own sustainable income-generating initiatives.

In Limpopo Province, CWP is reaching about 22 086 participants across 20 sites.

I’m looking forward to visiting some of the CWP initiatives in Mogalakwena today.

It is good to see that the CWP programmes are reaching 1027 youth in 21 villages. I’m also glad that of these recipients the majority are women, with 793 benefitting from these programmes. I am also happy to note that there are 13 disabled participants.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank the traditional leaders who have released land to the CWP programme for the development of communal gardens to feed needy and vulnerable homes. We are all partners in local governance and must work together to achieve our common goals.

I am also happy to see that CWP initiatives include infrastructure development. The renovations of houses of vulnerable families and renovations to schools and other community facilities will help to uplift this community.

I am aware that there are also initiatives such as of providing care and support to orphaned and vulnerable children and undertaking home-based care visits.

We I commend the work of those Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre practitioners who provide after-school care and those who work in the school nutrition programmes.

I’m looking forward to seeing some of this work in action at the Mogalakwena Nursery Project and from what I understand, there is a huge garden at Ditlou Primary School.

I’m also looking forward to being part of the launch of the Mogalakwena Sewing Project that will see this initiative take a step up in providing better facilities for the participants to work in.

Last week we marked the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. On 25th and 26th June 1955, representatives of all the people of South Africa met in Kliptown, Johannesburg to spell out their vision for a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous and just South Africa. It is a vision this government has worked hard to achieve.

July as you know is Social Cohesion Month, where we honour the ideals of the Freedom Charter such as non-racialism, non-sexism, justice and equality. Let us join hands as we continue to work toward building a South Africa that promotes human rights.

Earlier this year we launched the National Youth Policy. This month President Zuma established the Presidential Working Group on Youth. The working group consists of 17 deputy ministers, the National Youth Development Agency, business and youth organisations.

Our task is to ensure that the National Youth Policy is implemented and that youth development becomes the focus of all South Africans, be they in government, the private sector or civil society.

We have heard the youth’s call to speed up government’s efforts in jobs, education, skills development, support for youth entrepreneurs and the fight against drugs and substance abuse.

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has 240 offices across the country, with more to come. They offer a number of services to the youth including grant funding. The NYDA also offers opportunities to rewrite matric for those who have not passed. Their Business Development Services Voucher programme assisted 62 000 young entrepreneurs last year. Use your experience and opportunities here to look at new ways that you can help build a better country and further empower yourselves.

The National Youth Policy says “We are generation 2020. We don’t want a hand-out, we want a hand-up.” The CWP programme shows that the youth are doing exactly that.

This year we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the first democratic local government elections, held in December 2000. Next year we will hold our fourth democratic local government elections. We must all participate in these elections. To do so we must register to vote. We must make sure that we have valid identity documents. If not we must apply for one at the nearest office of the Department of Home Affairs.

The Independent Electoral Commission will announce specific voter registration dates, but you can also register at municipal offices. Remember that where you live, is where you vote. So make sure that you register in the area where you spend most of the time. Students also take note of this as you will not be able to vote if you are registered at home, but live in another area during the elections.

Voting is democracy in action and I urge you to seize that opportunity. It is something that the generation of 1976 stood up and sacrificed their lives for. Vote to secure your future and keep the spirit of hope alive.

I thank you.

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