National Youth Development Agency CEO Steven Ngubeni wants the government to allocate some of its jobs-creation funding to projects that would benefit young people.
Ngubeni, whose agency has come under fire for spending millions that contributed little to youth development, said the reallocation was needed to deal with the high youth unemployment rate.
He said the agency had proposed to the Development Bank of Southern Africa that it be given a piece of the R9-billion jobs fund that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced more than two months ago.
At this week's Africa region meeting, of the International Labour Organisation, in Johannesburg, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant emphasised the despair of young people.
"The National Planning Commission diagnostic report argues that, if a young person does not get a job by the age 24, he is unlikely to get a job. Even though a recovery seems under way, it remains uneven and fragile, and not likely to absorb the multitudes of the unemployed," she said.
Ngubeni said the agency was also negotiating with all state departments to set aside 30% or more of their capital expenditure budget for young people.
"If we want to avoid this ticking time bomb [of unemployment], we need to prioritise these young people," he said.
According to the latest statistics, about 3.2million people between ages of 16 and 35 are unemployed. Ngubeni said that, though the agency had created 16600 jobs against a target of 13000 in the past year, this was not enough.
He said the funding request was part of a new job-creation programme, ithubalentsha, meaning "new opportunities", that has been adopted by the agency.
Ngubeni said the National Youth Development Agency was forging relationships with the private sector and a consultancy company has raised R21-million from abroad. The agency will use the money to place 1000 young people in internships for 12 months.
"Our intention is to create a pool of entrepreneurs that will be able to take this country to higher levels. We are confident that it is an approach that will work, we see it working in [China, India and Pakistan]," Ngubeni said.
