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50 signatures reached
To: Labour Minister Meth, Acting Dept DG Mjo and the UIF Commissioner Maruping
Tell the Dept of Labour to release UIF funds to the BEEI programme
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When Finance Minister Godongwana delivered his budget speech in Parliament on 21 February, he announced, "....R7.4 billion has been identified for the PYEI (Presidential Employment Initiative).…” [1]. We hoped that by now, Phase 5 of PYEI would have been rolled out since there was additional funding set aside for it but there has been silence.
Our friends at Youth Capital have been working hard to follow up with the Presidency, the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Employment and Labour. At this stage, what they know is that the Presidency and the DBE have been held back from rolling out Phase 5 by the inefficiency of the Department of Employment and Labour in releasing the UIF funds allocated by the National Treasury [2]. We call on The Department of Employment and Labour to:
- Urgently release the funds for the BEEI (Basic Education Employment Initiative) so Phase 5 of the PYEI can continue.
- The Department of Employment and Labour should leverage its media platforms to communicate information about the application process. Releasing the funds will allow the DBE to communicate openly with young people about the next steps for Phase 5 of BEEI and warn young people about scam posts.
Why is this important?
After the budget, young people waited for public communication from the Department of
Basic Education (DBE) and National Treasury on the next steps for launching a new phase of the PYEI. However, details regarding the next phase were very unclear. Later in March, it was communicated with Youth Capital that the funds for the PES would come from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
Unfortunately, many young people fell for scams advertising the next phase; these types of scams are not limited to the BEEI but are more likely to happen in the absence of legitimate information [3]. PYEI and other short-term programmes within PES (Presidential Employment Stimulus) gave so many young people work experience and the opportunity to put food on the table.
Young people want to put food on the table for themselves and their families. This delay is unacceptable!
References
[1] Minister Enoch Godongwana: 2024 Budget Speech, 21 Feb 2024
[2] STATEMENT: Youth Capital calls for the Dept of Employment & Labout to release the funds for the BEEI, Clotilde Angelucci, for Youth Capital, 27 August 2024