About 1000 young people attended an entrepreneurship, career expo and Smart ID handover programme at the Baxter Theatre earlier in the month.
It was organised by the Department of Home Affairs and the SB Radebe Foundation to mark Youth Month.
There were more than 30 exhibitors, including colleges, universities, Cape Nature, businesses, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
“The expo was beneficial towards career development because it brought back hope to those who have been unemployed for years and had given up hope already and to the graduates who were starting to think the South African system was failing them,” said Babalwa Manual, the SB Radebe Foundation’s national coordinator.
Mansoor Jaffer, spokesman for Deputy Home Affairs Minister Fatima Chohan, said the young people at the expo had engaged the exhibitors and there had been talks, cultural items and an ID handover to several young people in the concert hall.
The event at the Baxter was one of more than 20 outreach programmes that took place countrywide each year.
“The Deputy Ministry focuses on issues of citizenship, education, human rights and identity. Past programmes have included women on farms, the disability sector, schools and youth,” said Mr Jaffer.
The Department of Home Affairs recently issued the 10th million smart ID to a young woman from Gauteng.
