Minister Fritz addresses DSD Youth Excellence Award

The Western Cape Department of Social Development held its first Youth Excellence Awards. The awards were hosted in partnership with the Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre, and were sponsored by Nedbank and Old Mutual.

Minister Albert Fritz delivering his keynote address spoke of the need to acknowledge the talents and initiatives of young people across the province. He went on to say that, “we’re also gathered here to celebrate the diversity and richness of youth development practice inside government and particularly in civil society”. Minister Fritz called on people to adopt a whole-of-society approach in tackling the social-ills, unemployment and gangsterism and substance abuse which affects young people

The Western Cape government has recognized the need for adopting this approach, as no government can address these challenges alone. As such, our response to the challenges faced by youth, are guided by the Provincial Youth Development Strategy and the new Provincial Strategic Plans.

The Youth Excellence Awards were divided into three distinct categories; the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. In addition, there were two special Ministerial Awards which named in honour of the memory of Daniela De Wee, who died after she was swept away by a river she was attempting to cross to get to an exam, and in memory of Shandre Aries, who was killed tragically in gang cross-fire earlier this year.

The prizes were made available through the generous contributions of the award sponsers;

• IDC
• HCI Foundation
• Transnet
• Community Chest
• Standard Bank
• Future Growth
• Sab Miller
• Liberty
• Santam

The DSD Youth Excellence Awards winners in each category were as follows;

The department will continue to play its part in delivering innovative services, opportunities, and support programmes for young people. This initiative is the first of many projects which will be rolled-out by the department in addition to our many other programmes, such as the Youth Cafés. Creating opportunities for young people to prosper can be best achieved if we continue to work, ‘Better Together’.