I have been observing young people of our country for some time and to my surprise most of them seem to have given up on hope.
They have made alcohol and substance abuse their full time job.
They do not even care about what is happening in their country, let alone registering and taking part in the elections.
I have learned of one of the government programmes known as National Rural Youth Service Corps (Narysec) spearheaded by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
The programme began in 2010 with the aim of empowering rural young people with skills that will help them get employment or have them begin their own businesses.
More than eleven thousand young people countrywide have benefited from the programme.
The department is playing a leading role in training these young people by taking them to further education and training colleges where they are trained in plumbing, electrical, brick laying, among other skills.
There is a verse in the Bible which says people perish because of a lack of knowledge.
Ignorance is killing our young people.
Government has initiated many programmes to empower them, but they do not know about them and are not taking advantage of these programmes.
Something needs to be done to take our young people out of this ignorance or otherwise the future of our country looks bleak.
Other government departments and non-governmental organisations must follow the example of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and initiate programmes to empower our youth.
Gideon Mudzweda, eMbalenhle.
