‘Small to medium enterprises should be part of Labour Activation Pgm’

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Youth Capital Employment and Project Lead, Kristal Duncan-Williams, says small and medium enterprises should have also been included in the Labour Activation Programme.

This is as the Labour Department launched a new Labour Activation Programme.

The Department has set aside R23 billion in an effort to create thousands of jobs.

The public-private sector partnership will see the funds paid to the UIF for the programme.

Duncan-Williams says these businesses can be used to absorb some of the jobless youth.

“The lab program that was launched is interesting because, you know, it makes specific mention of using SETAs to skill young people. Now on paper, that sounds great because we need young people to have artisanal and vocational skills and SETAs are the institution through which to do that. However, we know from speaking to businesses that SETAs are very dysfunctional, you know, some work well, but there are many that are inefficient in accrediting training facilities, are inefficient in giving young people the certification to prove that they’ve completed training and their apprenticeship learning.”