Johannesburg - Unemployment continues to ravage South Africa, with the youth bearing the brunt.
The country’s unemployment rate currently stands at 33.9%. According to Stats SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) – Q2:2022, the results continue to show that youth remain vulnerable in the labour market.
The second quarter of 2022 saw the total number of unemployed youth (aged 15-34) increase by 2,0% (or 92,000) to 4,8 million from Q1:2022. Stats SA found there was a noticeable increase of 7,2% or 370 000 in the number of employed youth during the same period. The increase in both employment and unemployment among the youth resulted in a decrease in the youth unemployment rate by 1,3 percentage points to 46,5% in Q2:2022.
Compounding the challenges faced by the youth, there are no opportunities to learn and acquire skills that will give them chances to win and compete in the labour market in the future.
Young people in rural areas, marginalised communities of KZN, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and surrounding provinces are the ones bearing the brunt of unemployment and the lack of educational programmes.
The four provinces have recorded expanded unemployment rates above 50%, and females are most affected. The youth need assistance and opportunities to turn the tide. That requires all sectors of society to come together to make a positive impact.
One person has now made it her mission to help young people and bring about change. Anastasia Machobane, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mashobane Group of Companies, runs Mashobane Training and Mentorship Academy to empower people, mostly the youth from different sectors, with the values of ethics, integrity, and excellence.
The programme, which was established in 2016, registers mentees every year and offers accredited and non-accredited short courses in various areas, namely: pitching and presentation skills; minute-taking; business writing, and business etiquette.
Machobane said she is a product of mentorship herself through a journey that began over 12 years ago with her mentor, Cheryl Carolus, who introduced her to mentorship. This was a result of the potential she saw in her to be a future leader.
“Since then, I informally mentored other young people. The formalised mentorship programme was then inspired by the positive impact that I saw in the lives of my initial mentees,” she said.
The programme has its headquarters in Centurion, Pretoria, with branches in Bryanston, Sandton (Johannesburg) and Berea, Durban. The mentees they take in are from all parts of South Africa.
“Our initial focus areas have been Gauteng (Pretoria and Johannesburg), but we have expanded to other areas, especially recently in Kwazulu Natal. Our company, Mashobane Advisory Services, which is a black female-owned business, recently opened a branch in Durban. For us, it is an opportunity to expand the mentorship programme to the communities in which we operate. We believe in investing back as part of our growth as a company,” said Machobane.
The thirteen mentors on the programme are engineers, nuclear scientists, advocates, academics, company secretaries, scientists, chartered accountants, and other professionals.
“Our mentees are very privileged and fortunate to be exposed to these professionals. However, we do have men joining the programme as mentors, which is very encouraging. We are currently on-boarding male mentors,” she said.
While there is no age restriction to be a part of the programme, Machobane said they do prefer to work with people that are graduates (employed and unemployed) as well as Grade 11 and 12 learners.