Latest news with #SAYouth
The Herald
07-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald
Cream of SA's schoolboy crop on show at Under-18 Craven Week
SA's leading schoolboys will be in action at the FNB Under-18 Craven Week tournament at Hoërskool Middelburg in Mpumalanga, starting on Monday, with the final day scheduled for Saturday. The final instalment of SA Rugby's 2025 Youth Weeks programme will feature 16 teams competing across the matches played on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. After the tournament, the SA Schools and SA Schools 'A' teams will be announced. They will face each other at Hoërskool Middelburg on Thursday July 17, while the Under-18 International Series will follow in August. Nine players who featured in the SA Schools and SA Under-18 teams in 2024 have been included in their provincial squads again. They are Josh Neill, Markus Muller, Briint Davids, Jordan Jooste (all WP), Ethan Adams, AJ Meyer (both Free State), Zekhe Siyaya (KZN), André Poulton (Lions), and Joshua McKenzie (EP). Eight teams are in action on the opening day of the tournament, with the Western Province XV and the Griffons meeting in the first fixture at 9.30am. Free State, who went down to Western Province in the final match of the 2024 tournament, will face South Western Districts thereafter. The opening ceremony at 2pm will be followed by a clash between the Pumas — the hosts of this year's tournament — and the Limpopo Blue Bulls. Western Province, who finished last year's tournament unbeaten, will be in action on Tuesday, along with the Leopards, Valke, Border, Suzuki Griquas, Sharks, Eastern Province and Boland. All the games will be broadcast by SuperSport. Monday 9.30am: Western Province XV vs Griffons 11am: Free State vs South Western Districts 12.30pm: Blue Bulls vs Golden Lions 2pm: Opening ceremony 2.30pm: Pumas vs Limpopo Blue Bulls Tuesday 10am: Leopards vs Valke 11.30am: Border vs Griquas 1pm: Sharks vs Eastern Province 2.30pm: Western Province vs Boland — SA Rugby Communications
The Citizen
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Payment delays for school assistants due to DBE verification issues
According to the GDE, the DBE recently introduced a new centralised payment system for Phase V of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative. The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has blamed ongoing payment delays affecting Education and general assistants on administrative problems within the Department of Basic Education (DBE), which is responsible for vetting and processing payments nationwide. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the GDE said it wanted to clarify the situation following mounting concerns from affected youth. 'The unfortunate delays in payments to Education and General Assistants are due to the processes being undertaken by the Department of Basic Education,' it said. National verification issues According to the GDE, the DBE recently introduced a new centralised payment system for Phase V of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative. However, the new system is facing difficulties, particularly in the verification of candidates. 'The DBE acknowledged that their new centralised payment system introduced for Phase V is experiencing challenges such as verifying candidate ID numbers against the Department of Home Affairs database, matching those ID numbers and names to the correct bank account details, and resolving discrepancies where candidate data does not align with application data on the SAYouth platform,' the GDE explained. The DBE reportedly implemented the centralised system to enhance accountability and reduce fraud, but the unintended consequence has been a widespread delay in payments, affecting numerous candidates across the country, including in Gauteng. ALSO READ: Waterkloof principal transferred amid witness interference claims Gauteng verification complete While the Gauteng Education Department confirmed that it has already completed data validation at both school and district levels, many candidates in the province are still without payment due to national-level delays. 'Although Gauteng's data verification is largely complete and validated at school and district level, some of our candidates remain affected by this delay due to the DBE national centralisation of the payment process,' the department said. The GDE said it remains in contact with the DBE and hopes the situation will be resolved swiftly. 'We remain hopeful that the DBE will fast-track and conclude their verification processes to ensure that all youth employed at our schools are paid without any further delay,' the statement concluded. NOW READ: Pretoria Girls High principal found guilty of misconduct
Mail & Guardian
18-06-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Ramaphosa touts youth jobs drive as StatsSA data paints grim unemployment picture
President Cyril Ramaphosa. (GCIS) President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended his administration's efforts to address the country's deepening youth unemployment crisis, saying it requires a broad approach, including investing in education and skills development and encouraging entrepreneurship among young people. In his The country's youth unemployment rate remains among the highest in the world, with more than 60% of people aged 15 to 24 unable to find work, according to Statistics South Africa. Official youth unemployment, for those aged between 15 and 34, increased by 9.2% from the last quarter of 2024 to 46.1% in the first quarter of 2025. 'To overcome this challenge we need an approach that includes investing in education and skills development, fostering youth entrepreneurship and implementing targeted employment programmes focusing on young people,' the president wrote. He said the Presidential Employment Stimulus and Presidential Youth Employment Intervention were 'providing opportunities to hundreds of thousands of young people at a time when not enough jobs are being created to absorb new entrants into the labour market'. Launched in 2020, the Presidential Employment Stimulus has supported more than two million work and livelihood opportunities. According to the presidency, 72% of the participants were young people and 66% were women. The president also praised the platform, a zero-rated data-free site that connects unemployed young people to training and job opportunities. Ramaphosa said 4.7 million young people have registered on and on the department of employment and labour's employment services database, collectively accessing more than 1.6 million earning opportunities. Beyond simply creating jobs, Ramaphosa said his government is working to remove systemic barriers that prevent young people from reaching the labour market. In 2019, the requirement for work experience in entry-level public service jobs was abolished, a move he said has opened the door for first-time jobseekers. 'Young people have often expressed frustration around the onerous experience requirements from employers that effectively serve as a barrier to entry for them,' Ramaphosa said. Public-private partnerships, such as the Youth Employment Service, have placed thousands of young people in workplaces across a range of economic sectors, offering much-needed experience, said Ramaphosa. But he conceded that formal employment opportunities alone were not enough, stressing the need to bolster skills development and nurture entrepreneurship among the youth. 'The extent and scale of the youth unemployment crisis means that we should not focus solely on placing more young people in formal, existing jobs,' he wrote. Capitec Bank chief executive Gerrie Fourie recently said South Africa's unemployment rate was closer to 10% Stats SA refuted claims that it overlooks informal sector workers, stating it follows International Labour Organisation standards to track unregistered, small-scale employment. It regularly publishes detailed reports, such as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, to monitor this sector. Statistician general Risenga Maluleke emphasised that official data should inform policy, not be misrepresented, and urged critics to base their arguments on evidence. According to Stats SA, the rate of young people not in employment, education or training has increased from 38.3% to 43.2% over the past 10 years. This raises questions about the ability of the informal economy to create alternative employment. South Africa's youth are increasingly being left behind by the economy, with rising unemployment, hunger and crime dimming prospects for a generation that makes up a third of the population, according to Stats SA's latest Defined as those aged 15 to 34, the youth cohort accounts for about 21 million people, representing 33.1% of the population. Although youth unemployment remains high, the profile of those most affected has shifted, suggesting that access to basic education is becoming less of a barrier to employment. The share of jobless youth without a matric qualification declined by 10.3 percentage points, while unemployment among matriculants fell by 7.2 percentage points. But the report also shows that a matric certificate does little to shield young people from joblessness. From 2014 to 2024, the proportion of youth who were employed dropped from 30.5% to 27.7%, while youth unemployment rose sharply from 36.8% to 45.5% over the same period. This upward trend in joblessness was observed in most provinces except the Western Cape. At the same time, more youth are living in households without any employed adults. This figure rose from 21.8% to 23.8% for males and from 24.5% to 25.5% for females. At the household level, the situation remains precarious as income from salaries and wages declined in 2023. In rural areas, reliance on social grants remained high, despite a marginal decline in their overall share of household income. Food insecurity also worsened, with the share of young people living in hungry households rising from 13.5% in 2014 to 15.8% in 2023. 'Households with no employed adults are becoming more common, which makes the intergenerational transfer of poverty more likely,' said the report. Youth safety also deteriorated, particularly for young men. Fewer youths reported feeling safe walking alone during the day, while feelings of night-time safety remained unchanged at 34.9%. Young men aged 16 to 34 were more likely to be victims of assault, street robbery and theft than their female peers, according to the report. School attendance increased slightly, from 74.7% in 2014 to 75.2% in 2023, while enrolment in higher education climbed by 1.3 percentage points to 13.2%. Youth with tertiary qualifications were also the least likely to be unemployed. Statistics South Africa said this reinforces the importance of continued education in an exclusionary labour market. Enrolment in technical and vocational education and training colleges dropped slightly, while participation in adult education and training went down from 1% to just 0.04%. Stats SA noted a small uptick in home-schooling and other alternative education options, which signals growing demand for non-traditional learning opportunities. 'South Africa's youth are better educated, but not necessarily better off,' the report concludes. The youth data raises questions about the intersection between skills alignment, the quality of work and the cost of living. Ramaphosa said the government has ramped up funding for technical and vocational education and training colleges, including the establishment of new campuses. The presidential youth programme has also partnered with the National Youth Development Agency and the department of small business development to develop young entrepreneurs.
Mail & Guardian
16-06-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Survey finds SA youth display financial savvy
Instead of splurging on luxury brands, young adults are buying homes and cars while carefully balancing their budgets South Africa's young adults make bold yet careful financial decisions and not splurging on luxury brands on credit, as they are often stereotyped as doing, Standard Bank's inaugural Youth Barometer Report has noted. The study, which drew on insights from Standard Bank's personal and private banking divisions as well as from insurance data from Liberty, showed how the bank's three million According to the barometer, more than 15% of youth in 'Our research shows … young people are making intentional, informed choices in how they spend, borrow and save,' said Tshiamo Molanda, the head of youth and mass market segments at Standard Bank. 'From saving for their first home to budgeting for reliable transportation — often through second-hand cars — and ensuring their extended families are protected with funeral cover, this generation is making thoughtful trade-offs with intent and maturity.' The study found that people aged 18 to 24 allocated the highest share of their income to essentials (58%), focusing This group also showed a strong affinity for fast food takeaways, spending the highest proportion on dining out compared to older youth segments. Fitness and self-care spending on items such as clothing was nearly double that of the 30 to 35 age group, reflecting their prioritisation of wellness. 'This tells us that younger age-groups have a higher brand affinity to luxury brands,' Shené Mothilal, a digital money manager at Standard Bank said. Popular clothing destinations for this group included Mr Price, Pep, Ackermans, Shein, H&M and luxury outlets such as Farfetch, Louis Vuitton and Timberland. The 25 to 29 age group spent 53% of their income on essentials, with groceries, digital connectivity and clothing still featuring prominently. But spending on insurance and loan repayments was higher for this group, indicating growing financial maturity and credit record building. Although their fast food spending remained high — second only to the 18 to 24 group — this age group reflected a slight decline in discretionary spending on eating out and entertainment. But they spent more on fashion, favouring brands such as Foschini, Shein and Markham. By the time they reached 30 to 35, young adults showed an even split between essentials and discretionary spending (49:51) according to the barometer. They dedicated the highest proportion of their income to insurance compared with the other groups, nearly double that of the youngest segment, and also allocated significant funds to loan repayments, especially for those earning R10,000 to R20,000 a month. Clothing spend declined compared to younger groups, with this age group favouring affordable and mid-range brands such as Pep, Ackermans, and Mr Price. Their spending on travel and entertainment was also the lowest of the segments. Credit card penetration among under-35s remained relatively low, accounting for just 16% of Standard Bank's credit card base. The youngest group comprised only 1% of cardholders, reflecting lower incomes and cautious credit use. 'Many under-35s use their cards primarily for daily essentials like groceries and personal care, as well as transport and dining out,' said Tumelo Ramugondo, head of credit cards at Standard Bank. He said customers in the 18 to 24 age group were also conscious of interest charges and made on average three repayments to their cards a month. Ramugondo added that young adults were also increasingly adopting Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) credit services, with purchases doubling from R102 million in 2023 to R200 million in 2024. 'This group is getting smarter about using credit cards to benefit from rewards and to access additional liquidity, especially when repayments are made within the 55-day interest-free period,' Ramugondo said. According to the barometer, homeownership aspirations were strong across all youth groups. From January 2023 to April 2025, 74% of all new home loan applications were from first-time homebuyers, with youth accounting for about 40% of new home loan inquiries. The average home loan granted was R1.2 million, with 70% approved for a term of 20 years. 'Youth are aspirational and determined to enter the property market. For many, owning a home represents both stability and a long-term investment, even if they have to stretch affordability to get there,' Toni Anderson, head of home services at Standard Bank said. Young people made up 37.7% of Standard Bank's vehicle finance customers with 65.1% financing their cars without a deposit and 41.4% opting for balloon payments. A significant 73% opt for pre-owned vehicles, with Volkswagen, Toyota and Suzuki leading the pack. Insurance funeral cover, which often covered extended family, was the most popular insurance product among under-35s, with the youth, mostly women, comprising 26% of all policy holders. But life insurance lagged, with only 16% of under-35s holding policies, reflecting lower affordability thresholds, immediate cultural priorities and a tendency to prioritise shorter-term risk mitigation over longer term planning.
