Minister Fritz Calls on Businesses to Help Empower Youth

The Minister of Social Development, Albert Fritz, has partnered with IDConsulting to ensure that the Mitchells Plain student, Faith Bowers, can complete her LLB law degree at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Minister Fritz has further called on all business to offer their assistance, where possible, to empower young people. For more information on IDConsulting, click here.

Faith is currently completing the fourth year of her LLB law degree and is also an intern on the Cape Youth @ Work Programme, a focus programme of Minister Fritz aimed at providing economic opportunities and job readiness skills for over 100 young people. Due to financial difficulty, Faith needed a stipend to complete her degree.

Despite having been raised by a single mother and having faced many related challenges; Faith is an exemplary student and has been on the Dean’s merit list since the first year of her studies. She aims to specialise in criminal law and work as a prosecutor. She hopes that her hard work and success will inspire others from her community to achieve their dreams.

IDConsulting, which runs its own internship programme and also provides stipends to students, read about the Cape Youth @ Work programme and offered to assist interns who were presently studying. Consequently, Faith was identified as the most suitable candidate and will benefit from a monthly stipend which will assist her with day-to-day costs including books, transport and food.

MEC Fritz said, “The latest South Africa Giving 2019 report highlighted that nearly 79% of South Africans were involved in a charitable act during the past month. Last year, the report found that 61% of South Africans had volunteered during the year. That figure went up by 5% to 66% this year. Clearly, working Better Together, through partnerships such as these, is engrained in our South African DNA. This is why I am calling on all businesses to assist this Department where possible to empower young people, through partnerships such as the one I have established with IDConsulting.”

MEC Fritz further added, “I want to also recognise the hard work all of our NGO partners and their staff-complement who work tirelessly to better the lives of their community members in areas such as shelters of abuse, substance abuse, Early Childhood Development Centres and Youth Cafés, to name a few. We cannot overcome the many social ills in our country without the charitable contribution of each member of society.”

The Minister of Social Development, Albert Fritz, will continue to work Better Together with citizens, corporate and civil society to establish partnerships which empower the most vulnerable in our society.