Pretoria - The participation of youth in housing delivery will come to the fore when Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu hosts the National Human Settlements Youth Summit on Monday.
“Minister Sisulu will host a National Human Settlements Youth Summit to discuss the active participation of youth in housing delivery and the strategy to position young people on the forefront of the implementation of the Social Contract for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements,” said the Ministry of Human Settlements on Sunday.
The summit will discuss the housing programme and explore how the youth can take part in its implementation.
“Many young people I have interacted with said they do not want free housing, they want land and jobs and they will build for themselves. The summit will look at how we can use our budget to train young people to play an active role in the delivery of human settlements.
“Amongst other issues we will deal with is the prioritisation of elders, military veterans, child-headed households, making serviced sites available for young people to build for themselves, training and development of small companies to implement housing projects,” Minister Sisulu said.
On Tuesday, the Minister will launch the National Human Settlements Youth Brigade at Savannah City, Midvaal.
The Human Settlements Youth Brigade is a vehicle to train and develop young people to participate in the building of 1.5 million housing opportunities.
The brigade is in partnership with the National Youth Development Agency, National Home Builders’ Registration Council and the Estate Agency Affairs Board.
“The National Human Settlements Youth Brigade is our vehicle as a sector to train and develop young people to actively participate in the implementation of our 1.5 million housing opportunities.
“We seek to train and develop tomorrow’s big construction companies. We are looking for young people who want to form cooperatives, learn different skills and join the construction and property sector,” said the Minister.
Minister Sisulu will be joined by, among others, Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande, and Deputy Minister in the Presidency Buti Manamela. – SAnews.gov.za
