Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, has committed the department to prioritise the transfer of land, wealth and income earning ability to organised women.
Addressing the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature Women’s Parliament on the Economic and Social Empowerment of Women on Friday, Chikunga said the historic treatment of women as minors who are incapable of owning property, continues to reproduce itself today through landlessness and its related disadvantages.
“Through integrated farming value-chain cooperatives as well as a cooperative banking institution, we are determined to see to it that women take ownership and control of land for productive and commercial purposes.
“We will ensure that women and youth have access to land for agricultural purposes and related economic activities. Land is wealth, wealth that has income earning potential,” Chikunga said.
During the Opening of Parliament Address (OPA) last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced massive plans to ramp up a green manufacturing sector over the next five years and mentioned Mpumalanga as a priority.
Chikunga said the department will ensure that women are at the centre and do not remain in the margins of these projects.
Emerging Industrialists Accelerator Programs
The Minister said the department has conceptualised a series of Emerging Industrialists Accelerator Programs and intends to rally all relevant stakeholders, particularly state-owned entities (SOEs), and industry associations behind their implementation.
“These programs will target emerging women industrialists in key sectors, including energy security, the maritime, defence and aerospace industries, and agriculture, among others. The recent Sola Mamas initiative will be scaled up and strengthened to reach more women.
“Participating emerging industrialists will work alongside experienced industry associations, receiving support from ideation through to product development, financing, market access, and commercialization pathways,” she explained.
Emerging Industrialists Fund
To support these initiatives, the Minister said the department will advocate for the establishment of an Emerging Industrialists Fund, dedicated to supporting beneficiation and transforming young people’s ideas into productive economic activities.
The Minister emphasised that while investment must come from both the public and private sectors, the state must take the lead as the investor of first resort.
“For example, the tourism industry in Mpumalanga has limitless potential. We need to channel our young women to this industry, not just as employees but owners and operators of tourism infrastructure.”
Enrolment of National Youth Service recruits
Chikunga also announced that work is underway to ensure that the first round of the National Youth Service (NYS) recruits are enrolled before the end of the financial year.
“A minimum of 50% of the beneficiaries of this program will be women, including unemployed graduates and those who have completed Grade 12 but are currently sitting at home. Here in Mpumalanga, we must make sure that the youth of this province, particularly rural youth and those in farming communities, are not left behind.”
Launched by Deputy President Paul Mashatile in May this year, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF)-led NYS is a special project that will be piloted and implemented in the country’s poorest districts, where most youngsters are unemployed.
READ | Mashatile launches SANDF-led youth initiative to create jobs, entrepreneurship
The project is targeting no less than 125 000 youth in its first year of rollout.
Chikunga said through this programme, the department will be rallying industry associations, including SOEs, universities, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and participating sister departments behind a nationally coordinated and de-siloed effort to combat youth unemployment.
“We will be training emerging industrialists in the design, manufacturing, piloting and applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs/drones) from small drones used to inspect borders, to large fixed-wing UAVs applied in mining, construction, oil and gas and related fields,” Chikunga said. – SAnews.gov.za
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