THEME: “The year of Oliver Reginald Tambo: Unity in action together moving South Africa forward”.
29 JUNE 2017

Programme director,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Delegates of the Youth Indaba,
Esteemed guests,
I greet you.

On the ninth of February the President of the country officially marked 2017 as the year of O.R Tambo. From this announcement we were revivified to celebrate the life and times of this struggle stalwart who is known for his passion for the development of Young people.
This being Youth month gives us an opportunity to bring young people together under a common cause to look at the legacy we can create.
As South Africa we need to find active ways of improving our own setting and as young people you need to accept the current issues and convert them into opportunities that will turn the tide against pockets of underdevelopment and inequality.
Water and sanitation forms the basis of basic service delivery within an environment of conflicting demands. For this reason it is our joint responsibility to pool our limited resources and engage each other positively through the various platforms that exist.
The journey experienced to this day has been and will continue to bring arduous ones, more often than not, for those who have constantly been part of this course. The development and adoption of the National Water and Sanitation Youth Strategy is a milestone worth being proud of and I look forward to opening this Indaba as a step towards building on the

foundation that currently exists. For this strategy to gain momentum it has to be translated to a set of short achievable activities that will be reflected in the pledge that we will all sign at the end of this Indaba.
It is a known fact that the Department of Water and Sanitation is the custodian of South Africa’s water resources and, therefore, its role is to lead the sector to new and more prosperous horizons. However, in order to accelerate the rate of service delivery all role players need to lend a helping hand.
As we work towards achieving universal access to water and sanitation, Youth Development has to be put at the forefront.
During the recent budget vote speech made in May 2017 by the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, she made a commitment to intensify and realise the radical socio-economic transformation of this country. In pursuit of this the Department will engage entities owned by women, youth and people with disabilities on available economic empowerment opportunities. This will be implemented with our Women and Youth Empowerment Programmes.
Ladies and gentleman, I think you will agree with me that we are here today because we recognize the contributions that the young people make to our society and build upon the imagination, energy, vibrancy and talents of all young women and men.
Programme director, I wish to just share with you one of the youth development programmes that we have in the department namely, the Learning Academy Programme.

Since its inception in 2007, the Department has allocated a total of 801 comprehensive bursaries to deserving students.
The Department is sponsoring bursars at 22 South African universities annually. 698 of the external bursary holders have completed their studies and have joined the Department’s Learning Academy as Graduate Trainees since 2007. Each Graduate Trainee is placed with a dedicated mentor and placed in the workplace in all of the national and regional offices within the DWS.
We are a department in action, and in responding to the needs of the youth of our country we ensure that there is sustainable water services and water resources today and for the future through the provision of relevant high quality training to existing and potential workforce.
Ladies and gentleman we have in our midst one of our female graduate trainees, Ms Celiwe Makena who received a bursary from the Department’s Learning Academy to study Town Planning. She is now working within the Branch Regulation in the Socio Economic Regulation unit. I would recommend that you engage with her so that you can learn more on the youth development within the department.
The success of the Learning Academy Programme is measured in the fact that the department has been able to appoint 424 Graduate Trainees into entry level of Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) or permanent posts. 268 of the external bursary holders that required experiential learning have completed it by the end of 2016. 12 new interns started in 2017.