Out of one million youth entering the labour market annually, 2/3rds will end up not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) within a year, according to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA).

South Africa has a slow growth economy that results in young people being locked out of the labour market due to various barriers and although there is high investment in education and training programs, we see limited transition of these youth into earning opportunities.

Citing the example of youth employment accelerator Harambee, which uses innovative technology to speed up youth employment by unlocking and aggregating jobs to make them visible and accessible to youth and providing tools for young people to make themselves more employable. This zero-rated platform is called SA Youth and is part of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention.

Harambee breaks barriers for youth through research, intelligence, and advocacy: data and insights gathered from the over 3.5 million young people we have supported through our platform give us the insights we need to reduce the barriers that exclude young people from the labour market.

This platform will give business leaders knowledge of how to reduce existing barriers in youth unemployment. It will also give them a platform to source young talent and be able to give employment to the youth to address the socio – economic issue which is unemployment.

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On Mandela Day, 18 July, South Africans are encouraged to give up 67 minutes of their time to help others.

But due to the many problems South Africans face and the ever-increasing unemployment rate, more than 67 minutes is needed to address these issues.

Mandela’s vision was for a just and fair society where every citizen had equal rights and opportunities. When addressing these issues, we should focus on meaningful and sustainable efforts.

Unemployment represents a significant challenge that South Africa faces today. It occurs when individuals actively seeking employment need more opportunities to secure jobs.

Unfortunately, a significant portion of our country’s unemployed population comprises young people aged 15 to 24. As Mandela Day approaches, we must come together to address this pressing issue and empower our youth.

Statistics reveal that a staggering 10 million young South Africans are currently unemployed. This number emphasises the urgent need for action. Unemployment, if addressed, can lead to a host of negative consequences.

One of the key factors contributing to unemployment is the legacy of apartheid, which has resulted in the uneven distribution of job opportunities across the country. To combat this, we must focus on creating new avenues for employment.

Embracing renewable energy sources could help address the adverse effects of load shedding and create employment opportunities for the youth.

Equipping young people with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary for farming allows them to generate income while fostering self-sufficiency.

Skills shortages are another critical aspect that needs to be addressed.

The government should allocate a substantial portion of funds towards providing unemployed youth with the necessary materials, tools, knowledge, and skills required in sectors experiencing skill gaps.

By bridging these gaps, we create a more inclusive workforce that can meet the demands of various industries.

On Mandela Day, we must unite to empower our youth and create sustainable job opportunities.

Let us honour Nelson Mandela’s legacy by working towards a South Africa where unemployment is a thing of the past and every citizen has the opportunity to thrive and contribute to our nation’s success.

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South Africa looks back on another concluded Youth Month with a rallying call urging the youth to beat the deepening unemployment crisis by adopting a Mandela-like entrepreneurial spirit the iconic leader often spoke about.

However, with Mandela Month and Mandela Day upon us, South Africa is staring down the barrel of an unemployment headache, with the outlook considerably worsening for the youth.

For the first quarter of 2023, young people experienced underemployment at far higher rates than older persons.
Underemployment is described as the total number of people in an economy who are unwillingly working in low-skill and low-paying jobs or only part-time.

This underscores the youth crisis, corroborated by StatsSA, which recorded South Africa’s unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2023 at 32,9 % and among the highest in the world.
One of the success stories of a national campaign to address the job challenge has been establishing a government programme to support youth to build their own enterprises.

To date, 45 988 financial and non-financial enterprise opportunities have been provided by the Department of Small Business Development and the National Youth Development Agency.
But this success story has been buried under shocking unemployment statistics. In the first quarter of 2023, the underemployment rate was 6,3% for those aged 15-24 and 5,2% for those aged 24-34, which is higher than the national rate of 4,9%. The lowest underemployment rate is recorded in the age groups 35-44 years and 55-64 years, at 4,6%.

In the first Quarter of 2023, the Quarterly Labour Force survey found 32.9% of South Africans jobless. Many more have given up looking for opportunities. In the first quarter of 2023, 44.7% of young people between 15 and 34 years were outside of employment, education or training.
Signs of improvement are not evident when one considers that in 2021, South Africa’s youth unemployment rate was 64.18%, a 4.56% increase from 2020.

“Unemployment among young South Africans is a national crisis that demands urgent, innovative and coordinated solutions. It is, therefore, essential that we implement a comprehensive plan to create no fewer than 2 million jobs for young people within the next decade,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020, announcing a national strategic plan to address this growing challenge.
Emerging from the global Covid-19 pandemic, South Africa has unprecedented levels of unemployment, prompting Ramaphosa to decide that the persistent and structural nature of youth unemployment means that the issue can no longer be addressed through isolated initiatives.
The situation requires an extensive, coordinated and sustained effort to respond to both the changing needs of the economy and those of young people in South Africa.

The persistent and structural nature of youth unemployment means that the issue can no longer be addressed through isolated initiatives; hence the presidential priority is to create the country’s most comprehensive effort to address youth unemployment to date.

In his 2020 State of the Nation Address, the President launched the ambitious multi-sector action programme, the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), expanding the range of opportunities for young people in South Africa.

Driven by a Project Management Office (PMO) in the Presidency, this initiative targeted youth, whether in further education or training, work experience, youth service, employment, or entrepreneurship. It recognises the great potential of South Africa’s young people and works towards a society where every young person has a path to progress.

Another success story has been the private sector-led Youth Employment Service, a core partner of the PYEI, which placed 30 535 young people in work experience opportunities in various sectors of the economy. YES has placed over 100,000 South Africans between the ages of 18 and 29 in local businesses for a year of work experience.

Through YES, R6 billion has been injected into the economy, enabling participants to support their families – making a real dent in youth unemployment in the country.

Against this backdrop, the PYEI Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) was launched to accelerate the transition of young people from learning to earning.

Through a strong commitment to partnering and mobilising stakeholders in the ecosystem, the PYEI has made significant progress towards achieving this objective in the past financial year.
This involved driving systems change to address the barriers that young people face, aggregating existing opportunities and creating new opportunities for young people, and linking young people to opportunities and available support in a single network.

YES Chief Executive Officer Ravi Naidoo told Inside Education that in the past 12 months, 32 578 new jobs had been created, the total for the full period standing at 113 911, with 5 298 new jobs created in June.

“This is good, considering the economy is flat. YES, is the biggest programme with social impact that is 100% paid for by the private sector, without taxpayers’ money. A growing number of corporates, currently 1 517, corporates have paid to support the programme,” Naidoo said.

He said that after their training, a large number of YES candidates (43%) get work in the companies they trained at or in the same sector, 15% open their own business, while the remainder return to training, and some still cannot find jobs.

But through ensuring that the candidates placed in YES programmes are given relevant skills for the future, Naidoo said they hope to create marketable skills, such as drone pilot training, coding, barista making and creative career options.

One of the success stories is Chulumanco Lonwabo Nomtyala, a trailblazing developer and creator of Soft 4IR Apps, an app streamlining housing subsidy applications. Lonwabo aims to partner with municipalities, empowering individuals to access housing grants conveniently. His vision is to bring convenience and knowledge to those in need.

Another success story, Thobani May has had a transformative journey from struggle to success, fuelled by his participation in the YES programme. Now the owner of Eco Char, a charcoal production company focused on environmental restoration, Eco Char employs five people and contributes to uplifting its community.

As part of a revitalised National Youth Service (NYS), interventions focus on priority growth areas with employment potential for young people in digital, technology and global business services; agriculture; installation repairs and maintenance; social services; and the automotive sector.

This initiative sought to link young people to opportunities through a national network, the National Pathway Management Network, linking a growing number of young people to learning and earning opportunities.

Currently, more than 4 million young people are in the SA Youth platform network and the Employment Services South Africa (ESSA) platform.

During the financial year 2022/23, 330 181 earning opportunities were secured by young people on SA Youth, and a further 50 375 earning opportunities were secured.

The Department of Basic Education’s School Assistants programme, a flagship programme of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, created most of the opportunities secured by young people in the network. SA Youth facilitated all recruitments for this programme.

SA Youth is reaching young people who are most in need of support. The PYEI’s Revitalised National Youth Service created 47 234 opportunities for young people to engage in paid community service in 2022/23. For many, the opportunity was the first time in their lives they earned their own money and could enhance their contribution to their communities.

SA Youth reaches many of the poorest young people, with 73% reporting that they attended poorer-resourced schools (quintile 1-3). Moreover, 65% of the young people registered on the SA Youth network, who responded to a question about social grants, reported that they live in households where at least one member receives a grant.

In a recent report discussing the project’s impact, 47 234 young people secured earning opportunities, while 10 431 have moved into other opportunities.

The Department of Higher Education and Training placed 14 504 TVET learners and graduates into workplace experience opportunities, enabling many to complete their qualifications.

Additionally, the private sector-led Youth Employment Service, a core partner of the PYEI, placed 30 535 young people in work experience opportunities in various sectors of the economy in the last financial year.

YES has placed over 100,000 South Africans between the ages of 18 and 29 in local businesses for a year of work experience. Through YES, a total of R6 billion has been injected into the economy, enabling participants to support their families. Nearly two-thirds of participants come from households reliant on social grants, and 40% are employed upon programme completion.

In the next quarter, the PYEI is launching a pilot of a pay-for-performance mechanism to test whether a different financing model for skilling can improve employment outcomes for young people.

Instead of receiving payment for training activities and outputs, appointed contractors receive the bulk of their income only when they demonstrate that they have placed young people in earning opportunities.

Led by the Department of Higher Education and Training through the National Skills Fund, the pay-for-performance mechanism will see the NSF play the role of an Outcomes Funder.

The outcome of interest is the placement of young people into sustainable earning opportunities. The pilot will train and place a targeted 4 500 young people into earning opportunities in 2023/24. This proof of concept will inform a scale-up phase that will crowd private investment to reach more young people.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga also said last month that the Department of Basic Education is implementing the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative to tackle unemployment among youth in South Africa.

“We also have a responsibility to create employment opportunities, particularly for the youth who are neither in employment, education, nor training,” said Motshekga.

In a rallying call for the Black Business Council and the private sector to join South Africa’s skills revolution, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, has reiterated the government’s commitment to creating opportunities for the country’s youth.

A sum of R1,7 billion was disbursed by the National Skills Fund towards its bursaries programme in 2021/22, benefiting students enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in scarce and critical skills.

“The central mandate of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) is to develop a skilled and capable workforce whilst broadening the skills base of our country to support an inclusive growth path,” he said at the Black Business Council summit.

Capacitating today’s youth to be job creators instead of job seekers is admirable and a sign of a maturing and progressive state. However, entrepreneurship goes beyond simply training the youth to start businesses – we must invest in helping the youth sustain new enterprises and therein lies the challenge, or is it an opportunity?

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With the world’s youngest and fastest growing populations, African countries are changing rapidly. The next generation is essential to the continent’s future and to global shared interests in creating a safer, healthier, and more prosperous world.

The economic growth and international relevance of the continent show that there is opportunity for youth to contribute to their society. If empowered Africa’s growing youthful population could support increased productivity and stronger, more inclusive economic growth across the continent. However, majority of youth in Africa do not have stable economic opportunities. In South Africa, the Covid-19 pandemic brought to bare the realities of youth unemployment in the country as reported by Statistics South Africa.

• Youth account for 60% of total unemployment
• 46.3% of youth aged 15-43, and over 63% aged 15-24 are unemployed
• 40% of graduates aged 15-24, and 15% of graduates aged 25-34 are unemployed
• 32.4% of youth aged 15-24 are not in employment, education or training

To empower youth potential, British Council designed a project to foster the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within Higher Education Institutions and facilitate the development of skills required to build industries, companies and products. The Innovation for African Universities (IAU) project is designed to support the development of Africa – UK Higher Education partnerships to build institutional capacity for Higher Education engagement in entrepreneurship ecosystem in selected African countries.

As part of this project the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in Johannesburg, South Africa launched and established the Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic. Under this initiative the Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic aims to build the capacity of students and graduates through experiential learning and mentorships to become volunteer clinicians who provide professional and quality business advice and support to entrepreneurs within the University and surrounding communities.

“Universities have a pivotal role to play in fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship for the good of the world. This is why British Council developed the Innovation for African Universities project, to catalyse innovation and entrepreneurship because young entrepreneurs have a crucial role to play in solving the employment crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa as employees and job creators. As an organisation, we believe now is the time to focus on building engagement and being deliberate about actions to create safe and prosperous environments for young people to thrive,” says Scott McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, British Council.

“Wits University is making a significant impact by fostering entrepreneurship and addressing critical challenges such as poverty and unemployment, not only in our country but also beyond. We recognize the pressing need for young entrepreneurs to emerge as job creators and catalysts for economic development in Africa. Through our Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic, supported by the new Wits Innovation Centre (WIC), we are tapping into the immense creativity and ingenuity of our diverse community of innovators and entrepreneurs. By empowering these future leaders, we are equipping them to discover transformative solutions for complex real-world problems.” says Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Wits University.

In the first phase of this project, Wits University worked in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, together with ecosystem players – the Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Africa Circular Economy Network.

Since its launch in July 2022, the Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic (WEC) has so far trained over 60 clinicians who have provided professional and quality business advisory services to the entrepreneurship community to accelerate viable entrepreneurial opportunities. Additionally, a 12-module training programme for clinicians has been developed and piloted alongside the delivery of intensive masterclasses focussing on digital entrepreneurship, as well as the circular economy. The long-term vision for the clinic is to develop a culture of and appreciation for entrepreneurship as not only a viable alternative to employment but also as a mechanism to address many of the grand challenges confronting South African society.

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THE Department of Basic Education is implementing the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative to tackle unemployment among youth in South Africa.

Now in its fourth phase, the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) seeks to give effect to the objectives of the PYEI, which is South Africa’s most comprehensive response to addressing rampant youth unemployment.

Phase IV will see 255 000 young people appointed in ordinary public schools and schools for learners with special education needs across the country, said Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in Pretoria at the weekend.

“We also have a responsibility to create employment opportunities, particularly for the youth who are neither in employment, education, nor training,” said Motshekga.

Providing an assessment of Early Childhood Development since the DBE assumed responsibility for its function from Social Development a year ago, Motshekga said much work had been taken forward over the last 12 months, and not all of it is visible outside government.

She said the government was committed to elevating the early years as the foundation of all education and learning and injecting momentum into the government’s commitment to delivering access and quality for every child.

Motshekga said that during the function shift process, the DBE listened carefully to the ECD sector to learn about the challenges faced on the ground and to make sure that its priorities became the government’s focus.

A key priority has been to ensure that government takes standardised approaches to help ECD programmes become registered and access the ECD subsidy. “We have also prioritised training on the National Curriculum Framework and developing a plan for workforce development – which are key planks in our strategy to build quality.”

Referring to government efforts to give youth a hand up, Motshekga said the Second Chance Matric examinations are written mainly to give those young people who seek a second opportunity to improve their marks or rewrite.

These young people recognise that a matric certificate is essential in their lives. More than 279,000 candidates enrolled for the May/June examinations.
The examinations started on 3 May 2023 and concluded this week on June 14. Marking starts this coming week on June 21, and the results will be released on August 7 2023.

The public hearings on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill have been concluded. The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education led the public hearings, which began in March this year.

On the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) Bill which seeks to amend certain sections of the South African Schools Act of 1986 to respond to administrative challenges facing schools and continues transforming the education system, Motshekga said it was not a wholesale Bill that covers all aspects of the sector, focusing mainly on the administrative processes of the department and schools.

“It is a Bill that responds to the current needs in terms of the changing demographics of our communities, findings by the courts and our observations as we monitor schools,” she said.

The Bill has 56 clauses ranging from the introduction of Grade R to learner attendance, Code of Conduct for learners, Home Schooling, rationalisation of schools, abolishment of corporal punishment and initiations, language policy, admission policy, and the criminalisation of school disruptions.

“It is concerning to note that some members of the public are debating the content of the Bill along racial and political lines. We urge members of the public to engage more meaningfully and constructively on this matter,” she added.

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The Gauteng department of Education MEC Matome Chiloane will be giving more capacity to schools including rolling out of mobile classrooms with additional 4 000 new educators. This is in preparation for the 2023 school calendar.

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PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to create more than 800 000 jobs in the next three years using the government’s R100bn war chest

These will include 300 000 contract-based teaching jobs for unemployed youth.

He said the education and school assistants – who will be paid a stipend of R3 500 per month with 1% contributed towards UIF – will be employed at the country’s 23,093 schools.

Outlining his much-anticipated Economic Recovery Plan in Parliament on Thursday, Ramaphosa said government has committed R100 billion over the next three years to create jobs through public and social employment.

“We are going to create 300,000 opportunities for young people to be engaged as education and school assistants at schools throughout the country, to help teachers with basic and routine work so that more time is spent on teaching and enabling learners to catch up from time lost because of COVID,” said Ramaphosa.

He added: “The employment stimulus is focused on those interventions that can be rolled out most quickly and have the greatest impact on economic recovery.”

“At the heart of the employment stimulus is a new, innovative approach to public employment which harnesses the energies and capabilities of the wider society.”

(COMPILED BY INSIDE EDUCATION STAFF) 

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By Shabir Madhi, Alex van den Heever, David Francis, Imraan Valodia, Martin Veller, Michael Sachs, University of the Witwatersrand

The public debate on strategies to tackle COVID-19 often unhelpfully positions health and economic considerations in a diametric fashion – as trade-offs. In fact, economic policy has health consequences. And health policy has economic consequences. The two need to be seen as parts of a coherent whole.

In the case of South Africa, the country currently faces three interrelated problems. These are the public health threat from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic and health effects of the lockdown, and a range of intractable economic problems not directly due to the current pandemic. These include high unemployment, low economic growth and falling per capita income.

Any potentially viable response to COVID-19 needs to address all three aspects in concert. This is particularly important as the country plans for the next stage of its response after the lockdown. Focusing only on the health challenges and not paying attention to the economic issues will result in significantly higher economic costs, and will also undermine the health imperatives.

Our view is that a protracted lockdown won’t necessarily have the effect of ridding the country of the virus, but it will result in unacceptably high health and economic consequences.

The cost

The initial lockdown was prudent and is likely to have lowered the risk of community spread of SARS-CoV-2.

But the true number of COVID-19 (the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2) cases is difficult to quantify. A limited number of tests have been done, and community-wide screening for suspected infectious cases has been delayed.

The available evidence on the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that any initial containment of the disease through a lockdown will be short-lived. Also, it’s likely to result in a rebound of cases in the absence of aggressive community-wide screening for SARS-CoV-2 infectious cases, isolation of the identified cases and quarantine of their close contacts for at least 14 days.

On top of this, South Africa may find itself permanently harmed by the simultaneous destruction of both the demand and supply sides of the economy under an extended generalised lockdown.

This will have other unintended long term health and economic consequences. For example, an extended lockdown could result in the undermining of other health services, such as the immunisation of children.

The economic effects of a lockdown, too, are severe.

Early forecasts suggest significant economic disruption from the current lockdown, which is costing the economy an estimated R13 billion per day. Preliminary projections by the South African Reserve Bank indicate that South Africa could lose 370,000 jobs in 2020. Projections by private banking analysts (based on the initial 21-day lockdown) suggest a GDP contraction of 7% during 2020, leading to a fiscal deficit of 12% of GDP (forecast at 6.8% in the 2020 budget) and a debt-to-GDP ratio in excess of 81% in 2021. This means that the country’s already limited public finances will be further constrained.

Towards a post-lockdown strategy

Globally, attention is turning from initial containment through generalised lockdowns to short- and medium-term risk-based public health and economic strategies. We present some considerations for a health and economic policy beyond the lockdown in South Africa.

In this we proceed from the following assumptions:

• The SARS-CoV-2 will not be eliminated in South Africa until either a vaccine is introduced (yet to be developed), or sufficient natural immunity in the population is achieved. It is therefore necessary to put in place and maintain a sustainable mitigation strategy for COVID-19 for the remainder of 2020, or until a vaccine is available (an optimistic timeline for this is 18-24 months).
• A generalised lockdown is not a viable long-term prevention strategy for COVID-19 due to its deleterious effects, including the resultant long-term impact on society, public health and the economy.
• Removal of the lockdown without appropriate health and economic measures will result in an excess mortality from COVID-19, resulting in further economic hardship.

South Africa’s health and economic strategy beyond the current lockdown must be designed to ensure good health care and be economically sustainable. We argue that the country needs to transition to a risk-based strategy which offers effective health protection and allows for the resumption of some economic activity.

This approach has been advocated by researchers in both Germany and the Indian state of Kerala.

Accordingly, the following objectives should be central to any policy.

• First, mitigate the rapid spread of the virus, while allowing for natural immunity in the population to increase gradually.
• Second, strengthen health care systems to ensure optimal treatment for as many patients as possible, both those with COVID-19 and those with other serious illnesses.
• Third, protect individuals at high risk for severe COVID-19 disease; and
• Fourth, make economic activities possible with measures in place to manage the health risks associated with these activities.

Economic and health strategies

At the highest level, there are three broad intervention strategies available to South Africa (summarised in the table below), adapted from a recent article by leading Australian health academics James Trauer, Ben Marais and Emma McBryde. We believe that option three is the only practicable one for South Africa. And the details of its implementation matter.

Table 1: Typology of interventions and risks

A health strategy based on an extended generalised lockdown is economically unsustainable. It is also damaging to public health. Instead, we need a unified health and economic strategy that allows for some economic activity while inhibiting the uncontrolled spread of the virus. This requires a number of health and economic measures to be implemented in a coordinated manner.

First, to reduce the rate of infections, the country must have ready the capability of mass virus testing and efficient contact tracing before the end of April 2020. This must be accompanied by a comprehensive approach to social distancing. Relying solely on screening of symptomatic individuals will not effectively reduce the rate of infection because high viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper airway occur in pre-symptomatic and possibly asymptomatic people.

To be successful, the scale of testing needs to be at least equivalent to that in South Korea (17,322 tests per day in South Africa, eventually testing 1 in 150 people). At best, it must be equivalent to that carried out in Germany (36,399 tests per day in South Africa).

Test turnaround times must result in identification of infected individuals within 12 to a maximum of 24 hours. This must be followed by immediate isolation and contact tracing. Isolation of infected individuals and contact quarantine must last for at least 14 days, either at home, if suitable, or in designated isolation and quarantine facilities.

The annual cost of conducting 17,000 tests per day is approximately R5 billion. There would perhaps be an additional annual cost of R4 billion for contact tracing and quarantine. These costs compare favourably to the daily economic cost (R13 billion) of the generalised lockdown.

Secondly, economic activities must be allowed in a way that is consistent with the aim of preventing the uncontrolled spread of the virus. Within the constraints of the health strategy outlined above, a risk-based economic strategy is required that balances economic and health imperatives.

Decisions on differential opening of the economy should be made in line with the criteria proposed in a recent paper by German researchers. This includes, for example, opening sectors with low risk of infection (highly automated factories) and less vulnerable populations (child-care facilities) first. It could also include areas with lower infection rates and less potential for the spread of COVID-19. Of course, these decisions will have to be based on a careful assessment of factors such as household structure and composition in South Africa, and public transport.

To do this, the country will need excellent data on the extent and location of any community outbreaks of the virus. Such data will be generated by mass testing, and accurate information about the ability of certain sectors of the economy to reopen safely and in compliance with the health protocols.

The health and economic strategy will thus need to be implemented in a dynamic fashion, responding to the latest evidence.

Source: The Conversation

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Charles Molele

After a few days of speculation, President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the national lockdown by another two weeks until the end of April in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Ramaphosa said the decision to extend the lockdown was based on rigorous research and empirical evidence gathered on the ground by officials from the department of health and members of the National Coronavirus Command Council currently based at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria.

Addressing the nation on Thursday evening, Ramaphosa said if the government ended the lockdown “too soon or too abruptly”, it risked a “massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease”.

“This evening, I stand before you to ask you to endure even longer,” said Ramaphosa.

“I have to ask you to make even greater sacrifices so that our country may survive this crisis and so that tens of thousands of lives may be saved. After careful consideration of the available evidence, the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to extend the nation-wide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days. This means that most of the existing lockdown measures will remain in force until the end of April.”

He said the decision to extend the national lockdown in South Africa was not taken lightly.

“We did not take this decision to extend the lockdown lightly. As your President, I am mindful of the great and heavy burden this will impose on you. I am keenly aware of the impact this will have on our economy. But I know, as you do, that unless we take these difficult measures now, unless we hold to this course for a little longer, the coronavirus pandemic will engulf, and ultimately consume, our country.”

Ramaphosa said government has already put in place measures to provide support to “businesses in distress, to workers facing loss of income, to the self-employed and to informal businesses”.

He said the Unemployment Insurance Fund has set aside R40 billion to help employees who will be unable to work, as part of the effort to prevent jobs losses as a result of the lockdown.

To date, he added, the UIF has paid out at least R356 million to claimants.

Ramaphosa also announced that the Industrial Development Corporation has set aside R3 billion for the procurement of essential medical supplies. 

“It has already approved R130 million in funding and expects to approve a further R400 million in the coming week to companies who applied for funding under this special facility. The Small Enterprise Finance Agency has approved the postponement of loan repayments for a period of 6 months,” he announced.

“The small business debt relief and business growth facilities are currently adjudicating applications for assistance. There is a total of R500 million available in support. Government has reprioritised R1.2 billion to provide relief to smallholder farmers and to contribute to the security of food supply.”

Turning to the Solidarity Fund, Ramaphosa said it has already raised R2.2 billion in donations from companies, high-net-worth and private individuals.

He said many companies and individuals have come forward to provide financial and other assistance to businesses in distress.

He also announced that the President, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers will each take a one-third cut in their salaries for the next three months.

This portion of their salaries will be donated to the Solidarity Fund.

“We are calling on other public office bearers and executives of large companies to make a similar gesture and to further increase the reach of this national effort,” he said.

This week, Old Mutual announced that its executives will donate a portion of their salaries to Solidarity Fund, according to the company’s interim chief executive officer Iain Williamson.

“Salary reduction would be equivalent to the inflationary increases we received at the end of 2019 and we’ve agreed with Old Mutual that they wouldn’t put that money into corporate savings. It would be donated straight to the Solidarity Fund, on a monthly basis,” said Williamson.

He said the company will also be making R4 billion worth of cover available to over 400,000 healthcare workers.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange also announced that it will also donate money to the Solidarity Fund.

Ramaphosa said government will use the extended lockdown period to ramp up its public health services to contain the spread of the virus.  

He said that in the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in cases was about 42%, but since then it has dropped to around 4%.

“Our immediate priority is to slow down the virus and not allow it to consume our country. We have used the last week to improve our screening and testing methodology,” he said.

“Since the lockdown came into effect, the rate at which new cases have been identified here in South Africa has slowed significantly. From 1,170 confirmed cases on the 27th of March, the number of confirmed cases today stands at 1,934.”

“While it is too early to make a definitive analysis of the progression of the disease in South Africa, there is sufficient evidence to show that the lockdown is working.”

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Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy has granted permission to commercial and small-scale fishermen in South Africa to travel freely across provinces to catch snoek during the lockdown period.

Creecy said fishermen must at all times carry their exemption permits during the lockdown period.

“Accordingly, fishers in the Northern and Western Cape may travel within the provinces to catch snoek in what is known as Zone A. At all times, fishing teams must adhere to prescribed hygiene provisions, such as sanitising of hands, sanitising the insides of vehicles and equipment. Restrictions on the number of passengers in vehicles must be observed at all times,” said Creecy.

Creecy said that in compliance with the existing regulations, accommodation will not be opened in fishing villages.

She said small-scale fishers will have to only concentrate on fishing in areas where they can move in and out within a single day.

“We understand that this might not be convenient, but we are trying to make sure that the snoek run, which is very important for household food security in the Western and Northern Cape people, will benefit communities, but at the same time ensure they are observing the regulations,” said Creecy.

In recent months, Creecy has championed the rights of the fishing community, saying that it is imperative for small-scale fishers to be granted access to fishing while they are waiting on their 15-year fishing rights to be allocated.

These 2 749 fishers were declared for the first time in 2018 as small-scale fishers as part of the roll-out of small-scale fishing sector in the Western Cape.

(Compiled by Inside Education staff)

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With enormous potential to better human lives, the dawn of the connected technological age has placed telecommunications companies at the foreground of the advancement of society.

The onus is on companies within the 4IR value chain to take the lead in ensuring that the economic benefits are shared amongst all South Africans.

One of the ways in which they can achieve this is corporate social investment. Indeed, CSI has become increasingly integral to business strategy; however, only robust, well-designed programmes are likely to bring us closer to achieving the increased economic equality that 4IR potentially holds.

One of the key intended outcomes of CSI in South Africa is securing the economic benefits for previously disadvantaged sections of our population. It achieves this through a mix of non-voluntary or compliance-driven activities, such as those needed for B-BBEE, and voluntary CSI programmes initiated by the organizations themselves.

Because of the legislation around B-BBEE, activities in these areas are usually regarded as an attempt to fulfil requirements to be able to do business.

Depending on the level of compliance, it can have either legal implications or implications in terms of being excluded from economic opportunities where potential partners can decline to do business because they perceive that there is a lack of commitment to transformation.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have voluntary CSI with its own set of benefits.

Unfortunately, there is no real way to measure how well the industry is doing this.

A number of CSI reports have aimed to quantify the benefit in real money terms. For example, a report from IO Sustainability and Babson College’s Lewis Institute for Social Innovation determined that CSI activities could increase a company’s market value by 4%–6% and reduce staff turnover by as much as 50%.

Whether the motivation is purely philanthropic or just aimed at enhancing reputation or gaining acceptance in communities and societies, the potential benefits to business have pushed it far beyond being a perfunctory exercise.

The amount of money that has been directed into CSI by South Africa’s corporates was in excess of R10 billion in 2019, according to the Trialogue CSI Handbook. But what impact are these investments making?

A McKinsey report on CSI found that, to a great extent, companies tended to formulate their CSI efforts based on their own superficial research, raising the concern that it is unlikely that these activities would be sufficient to tackle real challenges.

Identifying the need is, therefore, an important first step in designing a programme that will best serve the intended beneficiaries and be more sustainable.

One of the key benefits of voluntary CSI remains the fact that companies are able to focus on sector-related issues when identifying the societal interventions that will feature in its CSI strategy.

For the telecommunications industry this has tended to include issues such as the low meaningful participation of women in the sector, the use of technology to address challenges in education and health, and ICT skills development.

Of these, arguably the most critical is skills development for a number of reasons.

Shortage of ICT skills has been one of the factors behind the continued exclusion of women and previously disadvantaged groups from opportunities in the R229-billion local ICT industry.

These are opportunities that require a high level of specialized technical knowledge.

The limited availability of these skills hampers technological progress, putting South Africa far behind other countries in exploiting the many benefits that the era of 4IR promises.

According to Wits University’s JCSE Skills Survey of 2019, the areas where skills are scarcest are particularly those required for advanced technologies, such as programming or coding, automation, and artificial Intelligence. The report highlighted what it described as an ‘alarming trend’ where a growing number of employers have been forced to recruit talent from outside the country in an attempt to meet their skills requirements.

This at a time where South Africa unemployment rate is at its highest in over 16 years.

This is of concern to both the private and public sectors, and the South African government has placed closing the ever-widening ICT-skills gap very high on the national agenda, with a number of corrective measures that, in many cases, see it joining efforts with the private sector.

As they roll out their CSI initiatives, companies across the industry have come up with programmes to address the shortage. These range from simply funding existing initiatives to fully-fledged programmes aimed at tackling the issue at the root through initiatives that cover deficiencies in STEM education for women in particular.

Some have even gone as far establishing training institutions either fully run by the company or in partnership with specialist training providers. While some would argue that the motive behind CSI activities isn’t important as long as there are beneficiaries, it can influence the impact and substantiality of CSI initiatives.

In addressing the challenges as an industry through our various CSI efforts, we should reach a point of convergence where both beneficiaries and benefactors gain considerably.

This should keep us focused on the common objective and ensure that we are in it for the long run.

I have no doubt that the sum of our efforts will take us that much closer to closing the gap and realising both the known and hidden benefits of the new era.

(Vino Govender: Executive for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisition and Innovation for DFA)

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“This is very concerning given the regressed audit outcome from an unqualified audit opinion in 2017/18, to a qualified opinion during the year under review,” Committee Chairperson Philly Mapulane said.

“Furthermore, the NSF is one of the 15 auditees within the Higher Education Portfolio that had submitted their annual financial statements to the Auditor-General (AG) with material misstatements, and areas of qualification on accruals and receivables.”

The Committee said of “great concern” is that the entity only achieved 10 of the 16 planned targets as per its Annual Performance Plan (APP).

The NSF incurred irregular expenditure of R11mn during the year under review.

However, it was not investigated as per the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act, as reported by the AG.

“The committee calls for this unusual situation of the two acting CFOs to be corrected so that there could be stability in the NSF.

“The inadequate action plan developed by the entity to address the audit findings as presented to the committee today, was concerning as it did not provide assurance that there is commitment to strengthen internal controls to ensure that there is no recurrence of the audit findings,” said Mapulane.

The committee intends to summon the NSF to reappear before it to further elaborate on areas where there were insufficient responses, including the details of the irregular expenditure, the significant spike, that is, R11 million, in the operational expenditure on personnel, plans with regard to the utilisation of the R6 billion invested in the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

The higher education committee is also seeking an update on the dispute between Minister Blade Nzimande and Business Unity South Africa on the Seta regulations regarding the changes in the payment of mandatory and discretionary grants.

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The legislation tightens the legal requirements and strengthens the hands of NQF bodies to inspire confidence in the education and training system, SA Government News reported.

Skills development providers now need to be registered by the Department of Higher Education and Training, which was not the case in the NQF Act of 2008.

Private providers are also required to be registered.

“The Amendment Act also brings with it some new and revised definitions aimed at strengthening the legislation so that there is effective implementation of the NQF. For instance, it introduces the definition of authenticity concerning a national and foreign qualification and part-qualification,” SAQA outlined.

An authentic national or South African qualification, or part-qualification must be registered on the NQF, offered by a registered and accredited education institution or skills development provider, and be lawfully obtained.

On the other hand, an authentic foreign qualification or part-qualification must be lawfully obtained from a foreign country and evaluated by SAQA.

The NQF Amendment Act further gives SAQA the legal responsibility to verify all national qualifications and part-qualifications.

Employers, government departments, education and training institutions (both public and private), and professional bodies must first check if their employees or members’ qualifications are registered on the NQF.

“If the qualifications are not registered, they can refer them to SAQA for verification. Similarly, South Africans and foreign nationals who have obtained qualifications and part-qualifications from other countries must also have their qualifications and part-qualifications verified and evaluated by SAQA,” the organisation said.

SAQA has warned that education institutions and skills development providers that are not registered or accredited or offer qualifications and part-qualifications not registered on the NQF, will face closure.

Such institutions may also be declared unfit to apply for registration for a period not exceeding 10 years, and those found guilty of qualifications fraud, will be liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years, or to both a fine and such imprisonment. 

“South Africa needs an effective education and training system where the movement between general and further education, higher education as well as occupational qualifications and the world of work is seamless,” SAQA said.

Furthermore, the NQF Amendment Act amplifies the role of the National Learners’ Records Database (NLRD) to include a separate register for professional designations.

The NLRD will also have records of qualification and part-qualification requirements and other related information, including details of education institutions and Quality Councils that awarded the qualifications and part-qualifications.

While the NQF Amendment Act was signed and published for general information, it will only come into effect on a date that will be determined by the President. – SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa is training a group of teachers to learn how to code and how to teach coding. The subject will be piloted at 1000 schools across five provinces, starting in the 2020 academic year. The announcement has resulted in debates around the country’s ability to deliver on such a commitment, particularly when considering the low literacy and numeracy skills of learners.

The Conversation’s Nontobeko Mtshali spoke to Professor Ulrike Rivett to find out more.

What is coding? Are there African countries teaching it nationally at school level?

The Department of Basic Education describes coding as the writing of instructions for computation using a programming language to achieve a specific goal or to solve a problem. In simple terms, coding refers to using a language that a computer understands to develop computer programmes, mobile applications, websites etc.

Coding is therefore similar to introducing a new language in the school curriculum. The misconception has often been created that coding requires a talent in maths or physics, but that’s not necessarily the case.

Coding, similar to any language we use, has certain structures and rules – like grammar – and these rules have to be learnt and practised. While the discussion around coding has been very closely linked to that of the maths curriculum, there is no reason to believe that students with subjects such as maths literacy cannot learn how to code.

The challenges of introducing coding as a subject are manifold, but maths education is not one of them.

There are a number of schools that have already introduced coding. Most are well-equipped schools or private institutions. This is also true for most African countries.

African ‘Education Systems Not Aligned To Needs Of Economies’ – Ramaphosa

Countries like the UK have well-established national policies.

In the UK this was done in 2013. Others that followed included Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia. Some of these countries have included coding in their national curricula.

What are the challenges in the way of making this a regular subject in schools?

It’s great that South Africa has decided to roll out coding nationally. But the complexity is that the foundations are not in place for effective implementation.

Dr Mmaki Jantjies, a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape’s Department of Information Systems, cites five core elements that need to be in place for effective rollout. These include:

• infrastructure,

• teacher training and support,

• localised learning content,

• technical support, and

• safety and security.

To provide a good foundation in digital skills, computers have to be available on the school premises together with the relevant IT infrastructure and internet connectivity.

This translates effectively into having an IT department at the school that can manage the equipment, keep it up and running and be able to support teachers and learners when problems arise.

This requirement translates directly into a cost factor that is not a once-off investment, but rather a regular addition to the annual budget in the form of a recurrent cost item.

The second challenge involves teachers and a curriculum. Teacher training is expensive and currently teachers don’t learn how to code. To develop an integrated and sustainable curriculum, it will be essential to reflect on the current requirements for teachers, and to understand how they are trained.

In the UK, a solution was found by integrating digital skills into other subjects.

In South Africa coding and robotics will be introduced through the existing technology subject taught until Grade 9, or through a new subject called “digital skills.”

The curriculum is expected to provide learners with the necessary knowledge and skills to become “inventors of new technologies to make a valuable contribution towards the global community.”

What are the risks if school children don’t attain this skill at the basic education level?

The need for coding is becoming ubiquitous. In the same way that employees are currently expected to have the ability to read, write and count, in the near future there will be an expectation to have the literacy of coding. This will allow learners to harness the power of computers.

Right now, the most sought after careers are in the IT space. From the retail sector to financial institutions, our world is becoming digital. Online shopping, online banking, online TV watching – the risk of not being able to attain the skill of coding will be a risk of not attaining a job.

What needs to be done going forward?

Throwing equipment such as tablets or laptops at schools without addressing the training of teachers hasn’t resulted in any sustainable solutions on the continent.

An opportunity that should be more widely investigated is the engagement of universities in the initiative. Many of the computer labs of higher education institutions are empty for 26 weeks of the year.

We took the opportunity to link up with CodeSpace during the June vacation to host a coding camp for high school learners on UCT campus – the labs were filled with excitement in an otherwise deadly quiet time and it gave us insight on the potential of using our resources to fill a real need.

With the experience of hindsight, South Africans know that curriculum changes have not always been as successful as had been hoped and that a radical change – such as making coding and robotics a school subject – might be too much for some schools. Will the country end up with another subject that creates “have and have-nots”?

This is an opportunity to engage, to grapple with a difficult challenge and for higher education institutions to draw alongside the Department of Education, our schools, teachers and learners.

This might be the one time where the lofty heights of academia can provide some insight and practical space to introduce a subject that will provide our children with a skill for future success.

Ulrike Rivett, Professor, Information Communication Technologies, University of Cape Town

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The Agency also recorded a zero rating on unauthorised and wasteful expenditure along with meeting 100 percent of its annual performance targets.

NYDA Executive Chairman Sifiso Mtsweni said the “milestone”was down to a “high-performance culture within the agency,” backed by a board committed to “utilizing resources to improve the lives of South Africa’s young people.”

Mtsweni added that amidst a challenging economic climate, the NYDA managed to pay service providers within 30 days.

NYDA CEO, Wassim Carrim said the agency had spent its entire budget allocation, with 70 percent going to products and services, and not a cent in unauthorized or wasteful expenditure.

The NYDA said 1103 youth-owned enterprises were supported through its Grant Programme.

The NYDA reiterated its call for a collective effort from all sectors of society to give meaning to its goals of placing 1 million young people in jobs and funding and supporting 100 000 youth entrepreneurs.

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After being plagued by unemployment for years, Nqobile Nkosi decided to join a stokvel with the hope of raising money to start his own business.

After months of investing in the scheme Nkosi, 25, received a R15,000 return on his investment which he used to start an upholstery business in the Limpopo village of Elandskraal. The village is located in the Ephraim Mogale municipality.

Together with Patrick Kgaphola, 24, and Joe Chisale, 28, they now run Mapholoba and Joe Upholstery.

They specialise in manufacturing furniture from scratch, carpet cleaning and they also cover car seats and couches. The company started in September 2016.

Nkosi says he decided to start the business because he was unemployed and couldn’t find a job and wasn’t lucky in getting apprenticeships.

 “But when I started doing business it gave me hope that it’s not about working for someone. I can also create opportunities for other people,” says Nkosi.

The results of the quarterly labour force survey (QLFS) by Statistics SA for the first quarter of 2019 indicate that the official unemployment rate increased by 0.5 of a percentage point to 27.6 compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.

Stats SA says there are approximately 10.3-million unemployed persons aged between 15 and 24 years old in the first quarter of this year.

The authority also says between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of this year, the percentage of youths aged 15-24 years who were not in employment, education or training increased by 2.1 percentage points to 33.2% (3.4-million).

Of the 20.3-million young people aged 15-34 years, 40.7% were not in employment, education and training (NEET).

Nkosi knew that starting a business was going to be challenging but it was a risk he was willing to take.

“I did not have enough money but I was motivated to take the risk since it is something I want and it will help feed me and my family,” says Nkosi.

He says the scourge of unemployment brought the trio together.

“A business comes with challenges. We were honest with ourselves coming into business that it might not be glamorous but we know the value of hard work and that encourages us to wake up every morning and head to work,” Nkosi says.

The venture was later fortunate to get partial funding from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). Nkosi received a cash injection of R50,000 from the NYDA which was established to take on the challenges faced by the youth.

“One must have a registered business [to qualify for funding]. You have to attend the business training or have any business training certificate. The NYDA will check if you meet the requirements, but it is not something that can happen over a few months. It took me three years to get the funding,” he says.’

When they started they encountered challenges in terms of the material needed to manufacture the furniture so they turned to family for assistance. Another challenge is that people do not pay on time so they are sometimes behind schedule in terms of manufacturing.

Nkosi says his wish is for the business to expand so that he can hire more people.

“There are only three of us who work here. We are short of hands but I cannot hire more people when the business is still so small. They will need to be paid and the budget does not cover that,” says Nkosi.

Their customers are independent people who previously had to travel long distances to have their furniture fixed or buy new ones.

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Mamelodi Sundowns legend and academy coach Isaac Shai believes it won’t be long before they produce the next Percy Tau.

Shai coached Tau at under-15 level at the club’s academy which is housed at Clapham High School in Pretoria.

Tau went on to become the most expensive player in SA history following his R50m-plus move to English Premiership club Brighton & Hove Albion.

Clapham are currently competing to defend their Copa Coca-Cola title taking place in Kwazakhele in Port Elizabeth. The tournament kicked off yesterday.

“At the moment we have a good group of players who are very talented and there is potential for one or two to follow in the footsteps of Percy,” Shai said.

“But I also think that they can make their own history and make their own names. Football has shown us that it is a career that can take you places so Percy going overseas has opened the players’ eyes and made them be able to dream.”

There are nine teams taking part in the competition with each province represented. Clapham are one of the favourites to lift the title but they face tough competition from Durban’s Glenwood High School.

Playing in their home province, Malcomess High wanted to make an impression in front of their supporters. Their coach, Tieho Rantho, said his team was confident of beating the odds against the best schools in the country.

“I find these players from our area in Aliwal North and I can say that there is a lot of talent in our region. There is a bit of pressure on us as we are the home team but I have no doubt that we will do well and represent our people well.”

Earlier in the day, Malcomess drew 2-2 with Moroka and weer later defeated 1-0 by Seiphemelo.

Sowetan

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