‘Jobs are waiting’: Youth-led transformation in Limpopo

A Limpopo district municipality has embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive for skilled graduates to join its workforce in a drive to speed up service delivery and harvest good audit outcomes.

The Mopani district municipality has for three consecutive financial years produced a disclaimer audit outcome from the office of the auditor-general, Tsakani Maluleke.

This resulted in the district finding itself in hot water when the Limpopo department of provincial cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs wanted to impose Section 139 against the district and place it under administration.

During his recent state of the district address, Mopani mayor Pule Shayi said his municipality has embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive to have skilled, qualified men and women join the council.

He said the future of the district lies in the hands of young people. The mayor said young people were energetic, educated and “in most cases thinking on their feet”.

It was time youth took their rightful places in the mainstream economy and use their energy and skills to take local government back to its national agenda, he said.

“We are appealing to all schooled youth who want jobs in local governance to join us. If you are well trained, with the right qualifications, apply for all our advertised posts and you will find quality jobs waiting,” said Shayi.

“Our municipality has recently approved the appointment of Tshepo Monakedi, aged 35, as a senior manager for planning and economic development.

“This young man holds two masters degrees, including one from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. He is currently pursuing a PhD in urban and regional planning.

“He should be an inspiration to the youth in the district and the province,” said Shayi.

The mayor admitted that the dismal performance on annual audit outcomes was becoming a nightmare, not only for the district, but for the province.

But he said with the new blood joining the council, improvement was on the cards.

“Our municipality is still on a disclaimer audit opinion. We take collective responsibility for this but we, however, hope for a better tomorrow because the provincial government has agreed to support us through Section154, not 139, as it was widely reported.”

The call to give young people jobs was first made by the Limpopo ANC Youth League provincial chair, Tony Rachoene, and echoed by the newly elected league president Collen Malatji.

Both leaders called on government to prioritise the appointment of young people in crucial government positions, including their appointment as MECs, ministers, deputy ministers, heads of departments and directors-general.

The league also called on government to include youth as board members in all state-owned enterprises.

“The youth should not only be seen as soldiers of the door-to-door campaigns during an election. They must also be seen as leaders of the society and drivers of the economy,” said Rachoene.

The Limpopo branch of the ANC agreed youth should play a meaningful role in the province’s future. “The provincial executive committee (PEC) has looked at the composition of the boards of various entities as well as their composition,” said provincial secretary Reuben Madazhe.

“In future, all ANC deployees, in line with relevant government prescripts, should ensure that all boards have 50/50 gender representation, appropriate demographics of the province and include the youth of Limpopo as board members.”

Madazhe said the PEC has called on government to prioritise the filling up of all funded posts in all provincial departments, municipalities and SOEs as a matter of urgency.