By Boitumelo Tshehle
The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, launched a R2.9-billion internship programme in Mahikeng on Friday, setting government a 90-day deadline to prove the initiative is working, against a backdrop of 60.9% unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds.
Manamela used the national launch of Services SETA’s PowerX² 20 000 Internships Programme at the Mahikeng Hotel School to set out the terms on which the initiative should be judged, warning against treating the day’s ceremony as an achievement in itself.
“Access to education is not access to work. A young person can complete a qualification and then spend years being told they lack experience, without anyone explaining how experience is acquired if no employer provides the first opportunity. That is the wall we are here to break down,” he said.
Citing Stats SA figures, Manamela said South Africa has approximately 21 million young people aged 15 to 34, of whom only 5.6 million were employed in the first quarter of this year.
Roughly 4.7 million were unemployed, and a further 10.6 million were outside the labour force altogether.
“That scale cannot be answered by another conference, another database nobody uses, or another round of enrolments into programmes that lead nowhere. It requires workplaces and employers,” he said.
Services SETA has set aside R2.9-billion to place 20 000 university and TVET college graduates into structured, 24-month workplace learning programmes, with an initial cohort of 1 000 placement-ready graduates already distributed to the Offices of Premiers in all nine provinces. The SETA aims to mobilise about 3 000 employers nationally.
“Employers cannot remain at the end of the skills pipeline, waiting to receive a finished product. They must become co-producers of skills. This is not charity, and it is not corporate social investment. It is an investment in the productivity of this economy.”
He warned that neither government nor business should be exempt from scrutiny.
“A business that complains about skills shortages but does not train, mentor or recruit is not helping to resolve the problem. A government department that declares youth employment a priority but opens no workplace opportunities is not doing enough. And a SETA that reports enrolments without demonstrating completion, workplace exposure and progression into employment is measuring activity instead of impact,” he said.
“Employers must treat these graduates as part of their talent pipeline and must provide meaningful work. A young person must leave with more than a line on a CV.”
He connected the programme to the President’s call for a “Skills Revolution”, extending it explicitly beyond office-based careers. “Not every young person must work behind a laptop. South Africa needs plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics and technicians. No skill is lower class if it builds the economy and allows a young person to earn an honest living. Get a trade. Complete an apprenticeship. Obtain your Red Seal.”
Manamela cited a preliminary national inventory showing approximately 58 214 funded work-integrated-learning placements and 7 041 confirmed employment commitments across 19 SETAs, supported by roughly R6.36-billion, figures he said were still being reconciled.
He said Services SETA was working towards a tracking system called One Learner, One Record “so that we know whether public investment is changing lives rather than merely being spent”.
The minister set out a public accountability timeline for the agency. “Within 30 days: a verified implementation schedule, the confirmed employer pipeline, the provincial allocation, and the criteria for selecting graduates. Within 60 days: matching and placement demonstrably underway, with signed agreements and named workplace mentors. Within 90 days: a credible public dashboard showing actual placements by province, sector, qualification, gender and disability, together with stipend-payment performance and the number of participating employers.”
Manamela was explicit that access to the programme must not depend on connections or geography, directly naming the province hosting the launch.
“It should not depend on who you know, on your surname, on political connection, or on your ability to travel to Johannesburg. The graduate in Mahikeng, Lusikisiki, Thohoyandou or Upington must have the same opportunity to enter this programme. That is why we are launching here,” he said.
MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development in North West, Madoda Sambatha, who was speaking on behalf of Premier Lazarus Mokgosi, shared a vision for a province that aims to be defined by more than just its soil. “Our province continues to experience the most localised joblessness and economic inactivity, despite its immense mineral wealth,” Sambatha said.
Rather than seeing mineral wealth as an asset to be praised on its own, Sambatha provided a more in-depth assessment of what it takes to transform resources into opportunities.
“Having mineral wealth is not the trophy; how mining is done becomes the trophy.
“You can have mineral wealth but as long as you don’t include mineral beneficiation and invest in agriculture and manufacturing, you will forever cry about mining and not contribute to your own internal job creation … Mining, by its nature, is a scavenger sector; it does not deliberately work on downstream economies on its own.”
Sambatha said that was a clear signal that North West’s growth strategy was shifting towards building industries that created jobs directly, rather than relying on extraction alone.
- 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.
