SA
Ramaphosa and ORT SA’s focus on unemployment
President Cyril Ramaphosa was guest of honour at the launch of the Nedbank YES (Youth Employment Services) campaign on 2 May in Sandton, in which ORT SA is one of the implementing partners.
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ORT Chief Executive Ariellah Rosenberg said, “[YES] is an amazing opportunity to align this programme to ORT SA’s mission of making people employable. This is a wonderful fit for providing work-place experience to these youth, beyond the skills training that we give.”
Through YES, 400 previously unemployed youth recently began a 12-month stint as administrator assistants in schools across Gauteng. They will help to alleviate the administrative burden of teachers to release more time for teaching.
YES was launched in 2018 by the president as a joint initiative between government, business, labour, and civil society to address youth unemployment in the country. To date, about 18 000 recruits have been placed at different companies.
Ramaphosa told the recruits that their 12-month stints could be the beginning of their career aspirations. “The YES initiative has been made possible through the hard work and commitment of many people. I wish to express my gratitude in particular to Stephen Koseff, Colin Coleman, and Jabu Mabuza for having taken up the challenge we put to you two years ago, and for having pursued it with such determination and zeal.”
“If every business offered just one or two work opportunities, the country would look very different [in the future],” said YES Chief Executive Tashmia Ismail-Saville.