Structures, Systems and Processes to Mainstream Youth Policy in Ekurhuleni

Abstract

The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has a highest share of youth unemployment in the Gauteng Province despite that it contributes to the largest economic share to the province’s economic distribution because of its strength in manufacturing among other metropolitan municipalities in the province. Also, the National Youth Policy (NYP) places municipalities as the centres where service delivery is important within the communities and compels municipalities to develop strategies in line with the youth developmental strategy to intervene rigorously into the lives of the youthful populations within their jurisdictions. Therefore, the study sought to explore structures, systems and processes set up to mainstream the National Youth Policy within the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) to understand how such a governance infrastructure benefits the youth. The findings revealed that the political instability within the CoE municipality interferes with the development of structures, systems and processes to mainstream the NYP policy to benefit the youth. The findings further revealed how the CoE mainstream the NYP according to political affiliations which renders the politically non-aligned youth at the periphery of human development.