By Boitumelo Tshehle
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- The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, launched a R2.9-billion internship programme in Mahikeng targeting 20,000 university and TVET graduates for 24-month workplace learning placements.
- The initiative aims to address South Africa's youth unemployment rate of 60.9% for ages 15 to 24 by involving about 3,000 employers nationally and distributing an initial 1,000 placements across all nine provinces.
- Manamela emphasized that employers must actively train, mentor, and recruit graduates, providing meaningful work and integrating them into talent pipelines, rather than treating the programme as mere charity or corporate social investment.
- The programme includes a public accountability timeline with key deliverables within 30, 60, and 90 days, including a verified implementation schedule and a public dashboard showing actual placements and employer involvement.
- North West MEC Madoda Sambatha highlighted the province's struggle with localized unemployment despite mineral wealth, advocating for economic growth through mineral beneficiation, agriculture, and manufacturing rather than relying on mining alone.
