After struggling to find a job for two years, unemployed graduate Nomsa* finally got her first taste of employment through the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) programme as a teacher assistant last year.
The PES programme, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020, aims to provide support and expand opportunities for unemployed youth. As Ramaphosa delivered the State of the Nation Address last night, youth unemployment came under sharp focus.
Ramaphosa said the PES programme is a key part of the economic reconstruction and recovery plan from the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nomsa, 25, who asked to be anonymous as she's not allowed to speak to the media, works at one of the public schools in Soweto. For the first time she is able to support her family.
“I completed a bachelor of education with Unisa but I struggled to get a job. I was fortunate to be employed in the second phase of the presidential youth employment initiative (PYEI). Even though the salary is not enough, I am able to put food on the table,” she said.
She said the job has helped to restore her dignity to a point where she can do basic things for herself for the first time. “I am also able to buy toiletries for myself. I also hope that after this, I will be able to get a full-time job as a teacher,” she said.
Another 25-year-old from Makhanda in the Eastern Cape said he was not so lucky in the second phase and instead of staying at home, he went back to school.
“In the five months that I was working as a teacher assistant, I learnt a lot. It was most frustrating that at times it would take time for us to be paid,” he said.
The second phase of the implementation of the PYEI started in November and it will continue till the end of March while the City of Tshwane has just started its programme which ends in June.
According to the department of labour and employment, phase 1 of the PYEI, which was launched in February 2020, saw 84% of participants across all programmes being young people aged below the age of 35.
Elijah Mhlanga, spokesperson for the basic education department, which is also rolling out the programme, said there are about 287,000 youth between the ages of 18 to 35 who have been employed in the programme, mainly as teacher assistants.
Mhlanga said education assistants in classrooms are to support teaching and learning and assist teachers in integrating ICT in classrooms, and through reading champions, to address reading and literacy in schools.
The teacher assistants are placed at 23,000 public schools and are paid R3,800 a month.
The City of Tshwane's economic development and spatial planning department has created about 9,000 employment opportunities as part of the programme for a period of six months between January and June 2022.
Luthando Kolwapi, spokesperson for community and social development MMC Peggy de Bruin, said the recruitment of the participants was done in accordance with the expanded public works programme (EPWP) recruitment guidelines, with the youth accounting for 50% of those who have been hired while women make up 30% and people living with disabilities are at 5%.
“During this time, participants will also get skills training and on-the-job experience to put them into a better position to become employable,” Kolwapi said.
He said the participants are participating in the following projects which are aimed at addressing urban development challenges which include inner city cleaning, address formal and informal business compliance issues, community safety, township economic development and industrial park infrastructure maintenance, among others.
Kolwapi said the participants “will be paid an average daily minimum wage rate of R100, which sums up to about R2,200 a month.".
* Not her real name
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