City opens way for Jozi youth to work at sea
23 March 2016
Six unemployed young men and women will at the end of this month set off to sea to start a career in maritime thanks to a partnership between the City of Johannesburg and Harambee Youth Accelerator.
The six got the chance of a lifetime after recently graduating from the Maritime Youth Development Programme run under Vulindlel’ eJozi, a City-Harambee initiative aimed at breaking down barriers to youth employment and other opportunities announced by Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau in his State of the City Address in May last year.
Vulindlel’ eJozi is isiZulu for “open the way in Joburg”.
The latest development was also made possible through a partnership with the South African Maritime Safety Association (SAMSA); Operation Phakisa, a presidential programme; the Department of Tourism; transport logistics solutions provider Transnet; and the South African Police Service.
Speaking at the send-off ceremony at Harambee’s offices in Johannesburg on Tuesday March 22, Mayor Tau said the six young men and women were off to work at sea because they had answered a call to action from the City and Harambee to register under Vulindlel’ eJozi via mobi sites, activations and other platforms.
The City and Harambee hope to register at least 200 000 “disengaged” youths under the programme by July 2016 to create opportunities for them. More than 100 000 had registered by February 2016.
“Today Vulindlel’ eJozi and its partners have made it possible for some of these young people to go off to work, [work] that will take them to the other side of the world. The young people we’re sending off today, though they will still be citizens of this country for years to come, will never forget that they went through their swimming lessons at the Orange Farm public swimming pool, a City of Johannesburg community development facility. These are young people who were trained at a public facility in their own neighbourhood,” the Mayor said.
He said research and analysis of Vulindlel ’eJozi by The Economist found that Johannesburg was among 35 cities around the world that were “effectively and aggressively” harnessing the power of the youth to drive sustainable economic growth. He said in its second rollout, Vulindlel ‘eJozi secured 49 000 various employment opportunities for young unemployed people in the City of Johannesburg.
“So far, 25 261 young people have been successfully matched to these opportunities created through the programme and are directly benefiting from them as we speak. About 7 500 young people have been given opportunities to earn a living in various sectors of the economy, including early childhood development, hospitality, information technology, retail, financial services and business process outsourcing.”
The new recruits are Hendrik Mbatha, 24, Phumlani Mbonane, 23, Refiwe Kubheka, 27, all of Orange Farm, and Thabo Thamane, 22, of Ladybrand, Katlego Kapa, 25, of Meadowlands, Soweto, and Pearl Makume, 22, of Evaton. They are the first group of several to be recruited to work in the maritime industry under the programme.
Elated Mbatha said he could not wait to start his new job.
“It was heart-breaking to see my peers working while I was sitting at home, fiddling my thumbs. Now I have my destiny in my hands,” he said.
Bernard Ngosi, Harambee’s Special Projects Executive, said he was excited to see the programme growing in leaps and bounds.
“We at Harambee are happy to go through this innovative journey of expanding the horizon. We’d like to celebrate each and every employment opportunity created,” Ngosi said.
SAMSA’s Sizwe Nkukwana said the aim was to have 200 graduates a month and 2 000 annually over five years.