A better tomorrow
A R40m work readiness initiative for the youth
WHEN you’re not part of the economic labour force, days have little significance.
Mondays and Saturdays are the same. To be young, gifted and black – yet unemployed – is tragic. You may grow tired of prayer as depression sets in, and the endless hours spent at home can start to play tricks on your mind.
This is how 25-year-old Dimakatso Matsonyonyo from Phomolong, Free State, describes her time in unemployment. Life has not been kind to her – living in an RDP house with a family of six. She and her four siblings live off their grandmother’s social grant. Matsonyonyo’s mother passed away years ago and her father is not present.
At some point Matsonyonyo enrolled at a local college, but had to drop out when her grandmother fell ill.
The situation has been bleak until recently.
Matsonyonyo finally had her dream realised when she was selected for the Youth Employed Services (YES) learnership, in partnership with the MultiChoice Group.
MultiChoice has invested more than R40 million into the initiative – R35m will go towards creating 400 new jobs for youths who have never worked before. The other R5m will go towards creating five 15-minute films which will be flighted on Showmax to bring awareness to the plight of youth unemployment.
The films will profile other businesses that have opened their doors to the young job seekers.
“I feel really blessed to be part of this group that has been selected and given an employment opportunity,” she said.“I will finally be able to help my grandmother pay for groceries and other necessities.”
While pursuing a work readiness programme with YES, Matsonyonyo and the other interns will receive monthly stipends of R3600. After completion of the programme, they will be placed into different jobs.
This intervention means Matsonyonyo can look to the future with a greater degree of optimism.
Phomolong is rife with unemployment and in some cases youths seek refuge through sex trading, drugs and alcohol. Some join gangs in the hope of putting food on the table.
“The youth here have lost hope. Many have turned to dagga and beer in order to cope. Teenage pregnancy is also a huge problem. Most believe they have nothing to live for, but I want my story to serve as an example that anything is possible. No matter where you come from.”
MultiChoice Group chief executive Calvo Mawela says the video entertainment company has a long history of investing in programmes that are skewed towards young people.
“Through a host of corporate social investment programmes, education, skills development, enterprise development, and sports development initiatives, we are helping to shape a new generation of South Africans who are ready to lead the continent into the next era.”
Dr Tashmia Ismail-Saville, YES chief executive, said: “This Covid-19-battered economy is seeing unprecedented job losses and economic fallout and youth are once again going to bear the brunt of this catastrophe.
“We cannot afford to leave another generation behind. The MultiChoice-YES project is a perfect example of meaningful transformation and how companies can support the country’s way out of the crisis by creating employment opportunities and incomes so desperately needed for our communities to emerge less bruised.”