NYDA board hopeful Bonga Makhanya - A champion for youth development
With a deep-rooted belief in the power of the youth, Makhanya has dedicated his career to bridging gaps and providing opportunities that enable young people to thrive in various areas of life including social, economic and educational.
National Youth Development Agency Board candidate Bonga Makhanya. Picture: Instagram/@bongamakhanyaofficial
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has been facing an unemployment crisis for many years, and in more recent years the statistics for youth unemployment have worsened, standing at 45.5% among people aged 15-34.
Although the challenge of unemployment is multifaceted and forms part of a bigger national plight, Bonga Makhanya is determined to develop and provide solutions where there are problems in this space. As a candidate of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) board, he brings a wealth of experience, having worked as an executive chairperson of the South African Youth Economic Council (SAYEC), a body focused on shaping policies that drive economic opportunities for young South Africans, which, in its early years, has proven to create positive change in society.
The NYDA is a South African-based agency established to address challenges faced by the nation's youth. The applications for the seven board members started at a total of 1,479 and have been reduced to a shortlist of 18 candidates, whose profiles were published for public comment. This is where Makhanya got the backing of the Black Business Council, Black Management Forum and the Witwatersrand University Student Representative Council.
With a deep-rooted belief in the power of the youth, Makhanya has dedicated his career to bridging gaps and providing opportunities that enable young people to thrive in various areas of life including social, economic and educational.
His involvement in youth development began at an early age.
"Growing up I had a passion for history and politics, and wanted to study something that will empower me to practically give solutions to the world and add value," Makhanya explained.
He is a graduate of Economic Sciences from Wits University and is currently pursuing a BCom Honours in Applied Development Economics there too.
"Economics allowed me to study practically and scientifically how to solve some of the world’s problems such as unemployment and poverty, through the use of mathematics and statistics," said Makhanya.
As a former student during the era of the formation of the #FeesMustFall movement, and someone who is politically conscious of the social ills faced by young black students, he says he became a student activist in his first week of his first year of study.
"I was elected to lead student governance structures and participated in the structures of the SRC. I was later made a project manager in the office of the president of the Wits SRC, where we led the largest student campaign called 'R21 million in 2021.'"
Former student leader, Aphiwe Mnyamana, who worked with Makhanya, recalls that during his tenure, he assisted with getting two SRC members tickets for the annual Mining Indaba which resulted in them securing a number of bursaries and donations.
"We were able to get 50 bursaries from Transnet, 50 from DMRE and donations from the Motsepe Foundation."
After raising R21 million from donations and sponsors, the university rewarded this achievement by also adding an additional R21 million, which helped students who were financially excluded, a moment Makhanya deems as one of his proudest.
In 2022, he was part of the formation of SAYEC, which is a youth-led economic and legal advocacy group that promotes youth participation and integration in the economy.
"Young people ought to take initiative and not wait for anyone to come with solutions and we wanted to be an example that you can identify an issue in your community and in your constituency and work to deal with it with like-minded people."
He recalls that back in 2022 when there were discussions around the future of energy policy as then US President Joe Biden had just announced a $8 billion loan to South Africa to help with the Just Energy Transition, he felt that there was no youth voice and so they got the Minster of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe and other role players in the sector to discuss the Just Energy Transition (JET) and how young people can play a key role that will empower them economically.
He says this was done through "the creation of various policy conferences and imbizos to formulate a strategy on created broader youth participation in the energy sector and in the JET".
This, among other achievements, is why the BMF has raised its hand to endorse Makhanya. The provincial chairperson of BMF’s young professionals, Comfort Matoti, says he believes Mkhanaya holds the values of economic transformation.
Matoti says: "Inequality in this country is still vast, unemployment is shocking, and the poverty in the country is quite dehumanising and very sad and we know that when the NYDA has credible people like Makhanya, that will drive its agenda to its fulfilment."
The Wits SRC has also applauded that "Makhanya successfully advocated for the creation of the Junior Mining Exploration Fund by the Industrial Development Corporation and the DMRE which provided R400 million to junior miners."
One of Makhanya’s goals upon joining the NYDA board is to ensure that the funding strategies that he creates come with sustainability. He raises the question of how many businesses, particularly small ones, are funded and left to fail, and therefore aims to create funding solutions that avoid this.
He also says he wants "create more programmes, especially incubation programmes for young people living with disabilities and making sure that there's some sort of support from the NYDA together with businesses to foster that development and business growth for young people specifically with disabilities".