President Jacob Zuma received mixed reaction from the crowd when he visited Ventersdorp to commemorate Youth Day last Friday.
Flanked by the NW Premier, Supra Mahumapelo, Minister Nathi Mthethwa and the executive mayor of the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, Barei Segotso-Mosiane, he was cheered by thousands of people and booed by a small group of people chanting ‘Zuma must go’.
‘While we currently have differences, we need to put the country first and, through moving together, we can find solutions.’ This was the essence of his address to about 20 000 young people in attendance.
Zuma outlined initiatives in schools and universities to assist disadvantaged youth.
‘As the 1976 youth fought for political freedom, so today’s youth are fighting for social and economic freedom.
‘Through the Education Infrastructure Grant and the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, more new schools have been built, refurbishments have been made and new school furniture has been delivered.
‘For the current financial year, the government has allocated R12 billion in total to improve our schools’ infrastructure needs.
‘Since its inception, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme has disbursed more than R72 billion in loans and bursaries to students from poor households. More than two million students currently continue to receive NSFAS funding at our tertiary institutions,’ he said.
Zuma also touched on the EPWP programme which has created 1.2 million work opportunities since 2014.
He called on the private sector to provide more opportunities and employ young people as interns so they can gain much-needed experience and skills. ‘Many young people are sitting at home with qualifications,’ he said.
The National Youth Development Agency is to invest R72 million in the economic participation programmes and Zuma urged the youth to become entrepreneurs.
He also paraded about 10 youth entrepreneurs; among them a Klerksdorp man, Sir Stuart Ntlathi who invented a 15-in-1 microwave oven, an electronic vuvuzela and an auto shoe polisher.
Meleko Mejave, one of the irate protesters, claims the security personnel assaulted him after they took him outside while they were disrupting his speech.
‘It is useless for him to be here, as useless as he is. He is going to lie to us,’ he said. He griped that, while many of the youth were unemployed, the Guptas had benefitted from R16 billion. ‘For the past 23 years, we have been listening to the same lies,’ he objected.
Boipelo Jantjies, a Gr. 11 learner from Bopaganang Secondary School in Vryburg said the president should listen to what the youth were saying about fees must fall. ‘There are not enough funds for learners to access tertiary education. She bemoaned the nepotism that saw senior managers hiring their family and relatives while qualified young people are sitting at home, jobless.
