Workshop empowers the youth

Young entrepreneurs, Melusi Ndima and Simphiwe Kunene, hosted a workshop at the Sithembile Community Hall to address issues affecting the youth.

It proved to be a great success, as the hall was packed with young people who seemed to show great interest in this initiative.

The purpose of the workshop was to merge the youth, discuss issues that affect them in their communities and find possible solutions to those issues.

Mr Ndima explained that basic needs, such as information centres, are some of the things that the youth in Endumeni have no access to, and this is the reason why the youth in this area are left behind and cannot move forward, as they lack access to information.

He said they are trying to unify the youth so as to have a common approach to issues that affect them directly.

The workshop was graced with the presence of Member of Parliament Mrs Mngcwango.

During the meeting posters advertising vacancies, bursaries and learnership were made available to the gathered crowd.

Melusi and Simphiwe plan to bring development to Endumeni through a network of other businesses, which Mr Ndima said are more than willing to assist.

He emphasised that the developments have no political origins, but are meant to develop the community of Endumeni.

“We want to make sure that the youth in this area participate in day-to-day activities that can help them and the community in general.”

Furthermore, he said, “There are lots of promises made by politicians that are empty, and now we are going to make things happen ourselves.”

Mr Ndima said they want to end this culture of saying ‘only the municipality or the government can assist me’.

“We want to empower the youth by giving them access to information so that once they are informed they will be able to break boundaries.

“This is what the youth of Endumeni needs: a helping hand to move forward.”

Ndima mentioned that he himself started a business without relying on government, and has been involved in many projects that he wishes the youth in this area can also be a part of.

“I want our youth to be educated and get equal opportunities like any other young person in this country.

“We want to talk shares for the youth, property development and many other things, but we need interested officials who will listen and implement, not promise us things that will never happen,” explained Ndima. However, he emphasised that these developments have no political origins – they just want to develop the community.