Pretoria – Young people, government and organisations that advocate for youth development will on Monday converge at the Hector Peterson Memorial in Soweto to mark the beginning of Youth Month.
The event -- hosted by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), is expected to be attended by, amongst others, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, his deputy Buti Manamela and Gauteng Premier David Makhura -- will honour the memory of all students who died on 16 June 1976.
Under the theme ‘Youth moving South Africa forward’, the NYDA is also expected to announce a month full of youth events.
This includes the launch of the National Youth Build Programme, where young people from Jan Kemp Dorp in the Northern Cape will hand over 76 houses that they have built for youth headed households. The NYDA has also donated solar-powered geysers as part of its efforts to promote the green economy.
In the same province, the NYDA will launch a township hub to allow entrepreneurs trading in a variety of skills to have facilities in a municipal property where they can polish their skills.
The NYDA will also use the month of June to invite ordinary South Africans to submit their applications in order to be considered for 10 vacancies in a soon to be established Youth Advisory Council, an apolitical body that will sit four times a year to advise the youth agency board on matters affecting young people.
Youth Month events are organised to commemorate the anniversary of the death of hundreds of high school students, who lost their lives when apartheid security forces opened fire on them on 16 June 1976, after they took to the streets in a peaceful protest against the mandatory use of Afrikaans as a language of instruction in black secondary schools. – SAnews.gov.za
