Leader advocates for empowerment

Having recently been elected to the position of Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Youth Leader, Luyolo Mphithi is a key motivator for the empowerment of young people and seemingly passionate about issues impacting on their lives.
The creation of employment opportunities for a youthful generation of South Africans featured high on his agenda while in Polokwane on Friday for a campaign sweeping through the city like a blue wave. His visit granted him the opportunity to enter into discussions with DA-supporting youth predominantly on the topic of unemployment during a programme taking him to three different venues across the city, starting at a local primary school before moving on to a downtown mall and then a taxi rank.
In an interview with Polokwane Observer before the campaign got underway in the city, he referred to South Africa’s unemployment rate estimating 3,7 million young unemployed people, of which half are graduates without jobs. He explained that essentially their call was to speak to unemployed young people and have conversations with them, because behind the statistics were the daily lives of people who were unable to meet the responsibility of providing for their families.
He was vocal about the need for more internships, skills and development programmes as well as sustainable opportunities and the ability for the youth to continue to provide for themselves, while adding that the private sector and civil society had a huge role to play. If South Africa’s young population was not empowered, the country wasn’t empowered, he emphasised.
Mphithi further expressed the opinion that the youth had to be represented in municipal councils, Legislatures and Parliament, making sure their voices got heard and not allow politics of the past to determine how they wanted to live and relate with one another.
Government shouldn’t be the job creator, but work with the private sector to create opportunities targeting the youth, he reckoned and indicated that a mind shift was necessary as avenues needed to assist young people to contribute to the economy. A wake-up call was required and problems needed to be channelled towards solutions, he added.
Mphithi, who is Director of Political Administration of the City of Johannesburg, reflected on his first encounter with politics. He started supporting the DA while at university and was elected as a councillor representing the DA on the Johannesburg City Council at the age of 23, which was three years ago. He had a phenomenal experience, doing what he enjoyed and giving back to the country he loved, he said. One thing he wanted to share with young people, he remarked, was that it was great to be in politics but that there were many avenues for change in society and for them to plough back.

Story: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com
Photo: RC MYBURGH
>>rc.observer@gmail.com