​In honour of June being Youth Month, the Public Safety department hosted scores of students and interns at a Joburg youth day event in Martindale to encourage them to be predisposed to tackling challenges facing the country.

The big boardroom at the department’s headquarters west of Johannesburg was filled to the maximum capacity with young people who came to commemorate the annual occasion.

The national anthem was sung as a sign of remembrance of the youth of 1976 before the official programme began.

The department, in partnership with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), recruited 30 learners living with disabilities to be part of a 12-months learnership programme. Those students will be working under Emergency Management Services (EMS) and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD). These learners are expected to report for duty as part of their experiential learning programme from Monday, 20 June.

Among the invitees who were at the event were representatives of the National Youth Development Agency, officials from correctional services accompanied by a parolee, and an NGO, People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA).

Tshepo Maleka from the NYDA encouraged young people to use its services as they are there to empower and support youth innovations. Maleka said the organisation has funding, mentorship programmes, and marketing linkage opportunities.

Any youngster with a business plan is advised to use the organisation’s resources as it is the perfect space to link them with their counterparts.

“The NYDA grant programme is designed to provide young entrepreneurs with an opportunity to access both financial and non-financial business development support to enable them to establish or grow their businesses,” he said.

Maleka added that businesses started by young people contribute to the growth of the country’s economy. The young are advised to visit nyda.gov.za for more information.

City Youth Development’s Ali Sithole says youth development should not only be talked about during youth month. She’s called on the City to moot out strategies that benefit young people.

“Young people should always be given a platform for reflection, and the opportunity to focus on the issues that affect them and implement long-lasting initiatives to empower them,” says Sithole.

“Young people who are determined can be persuaded to go for what they want. We have to honour the youth of 1976 by doing better,” he added.

Correctional services official, Tshepo Phalala, encouraged young people to “be disciplined and progressive”. He informed them that being on the wrong side of the law is something no one should experience in their lifetime.

As the country battles the pandemic of gender-based violence (GBV), representatives from POWA brought awareness to the young.