Durban — Police Minister Bheki Cele said police would help fight rising unemployment by outsourcing some services to businesses owned by young people.
The minister was speaking at the youth crime indaba in Durban on Thursday. The two-day event, which was aimed at finding ways and strategies to fight crime among youth, is being held at the Olive Convention Centre and will end on Friday.
Cele said unemployment in the country, especially among young people, was no longer a problem but had reached a crisis level. He called on youth formations to come together as co-operatives and access opportunities in the police force.
He said he became more worried when he learnt that more than 500 000 young people had recently applied for 10 000 new police vacancies. He felt his department must create opportunities by outsourcing those services that can be done by people outside the force.
The minister said youth near police stations must start building car wash bays so that they can wash police vehicles, which, he said, numbered more than 50 000 nationwide.
Cele added that another service that he wanted to have outsourced from the police was the repair of police vehicles. This would help create more opportunities for unemployed youths.
He said youth must receive training to be mechanics to tap into the opportunities and instructed police management that when purchasing vehicles from car dealers, there had to be a condition that dealers in return would train youth to be mechanics so that they could keep police vehicles in good condition.
“These services are needed on a daily basis in the police stations so we are going to create permanent jobs for unemployed youth in the country. Even uniforms for police officers must be manufactured by your companies,” said Cele.
He further said he was a bit concerned that there is one service provider from Durban which has monopolised the supply of police furniture. It was the only one supplying police stations throughout the country.
The minister said the monopoly must end, because it was not the government’s business to create millionaires but to create opportunities.
He also called on young people to help police fight crime. The event was attended by youth formations such as the National Youth Development Agency, South African Youth Council and South African Union of Students and provincial commissioners from all nine provinces. The event is expected to come up with strategies to fight crime when it ends on Friday.
Meanwhile, Cele took a swipe at DA leader John Steenhuisen for asking the US’s FBI to investigate the allegations of money laundering against President Cyril Ramaphosa after millions of dollars were stolen from his Phala Phala farm.
He accused Steenhuisen of undermining the capabilities of law enforcement agencies in the country, saying what he said showed that only his body was South African, and his mind and soul were American.
Daily News