​Thembisa Shologu
'Down but definitely not out' is the adage that recovering addict and alcoholic, Riccardo Mokgosinyane from Thokoza in Ekurhuleni lives by. 
Although overcoming the stigma communities have of addicts is hard, Mokgosinyane says he chooses to wear his scars with pride as they are a sign that he has conquered. 
Mokgosinyane was raised by his grandparents in Toekomsrus, Westrand. He had a beautiful childhood and great upbringing which is not the reason why he got hooked into drugs. 
"I was brought up well. My addiction was because of me making wrong choices. I got introduced to drugs at school, I used my monthly allowance to sustain my drug addiction until I could not afford the life I was leaving anymore. 
"This led to us bullying other children at school, robbing people and stealing," he said. 
Mokgosinyane went for rehabilitation twice, the second time was different because he was introduced to programmes that make one aware of how the mind works, "remembering the good times only and not the bad ones."
On release, the family did not want anything to do with him. He lived at a rehab halfway house for 16 months. Seeing the change, his aunt then took him in and that is how he ended up in Thokoza.
Through Tshepo 1 Million programme and Thokoza Progressive Youth (TPY), he has acquired skills and qualifications that have enabled him to become an IT Operations Specialist and member of the media team at TPY. 
Tshepo 1 Million programme is Gauteng province's flagship youth empowerment initiative designed to help young people to enter the labour market and access skills and entrepreneurial development.
The programme  was launched in 2014 under the name Tshepo 500 000, and was redeveloped and unveiled as Tshepo 1 million in 2017 by Premier David Makhura.
Since 2019, the programme, through its partnerships in the various sectors, has reached an average of 63% of beneficiaries.
"My life has changed. I carry my scars or as I like to rather call them, stars, as reminder of the life that I've lived and where I'm going. That I have overcome the stigma my community has about drug addicts," he said. 
Mokgosinyane  is currently doing his final year in Entrepreneurial Management of Innovation and Technology at Da Vinci Institute which relates to what he did under the Tshepo 1 Million.
"It focuses on how to do business, and how you can become your own boss and not depend on others to hire you. I survive by staying away from bad company, keep myself busy with school and finishing my studies. This is my last year," he said. 
Another recipient, Fortunate Sethoga was also raised by her grandparents in Limpopo. Life was simple and growing up was not very exciting because of a poor environment. 
In 2010, she moved to Johannesburg to further her studies in Electrical Engineering.
In 2017, Sethoga joined Tshepo 1 Million and was offered a four-year apprenticeship and is now a qualified Earthmoving Equipment Mechanic on a permanent contract.
"It was very interesting to meet a lot of young women who all had dreams and worked so hard to achieve them.
"We are indeed taking up space and our industry will no longer be male-dominated," said Sethoga. 
Through her journey, Sethoga's biggest lesson was knowing that women can absolutely do anything they put their minds to.
Since 2020, one of the main challenges faced by T1M was the need to shift from supporting youth face-to-face to doing it virtually and on the phone support, due to COVID-19 regulations. 
Despite this, the programme is forging ahead and has set a target to reach a further 1 million young people by 2024. 
The T1M programme is also aligned with the Youth Employment Service (YES) Initiative launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The YES initiative aims to see more than one million young South Africans being offered paid work experience over the next three years, as part of placing the needs of and opportunities for young people at the centre of inclusive economic growth.
Thus far, a total of 19 771 work opportunities were created in Gauteng under this banner against a target of 36 457.
In drawing more young people into the economy, the provincial government has initiated various other youth development and empowerment initiatives.
As at 30 September 2021, 9376 youth brigades were employed by the Gauteng Department of Education and the Gauteng City-Region Academy. 
Skills development programmes, CoachLab and Code Tribe have trained 286 youth which resulted in 114 youth finding employment. 
A total of 3 339 unemployed youth (1217 female youth and 2122 male youth) were trained in automotive skills at the Gauteng Automotive Learning Centre (GALC). 
Gauteng government departments created a total of 93 314 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) work opportunities against a target of 133895. To date, 69.7% of the target has been achieved, of which 41% were in the infrastructure sector.
These efforts by Gauteng Provincial Government are ensuring that young people are given access to opportunities so they can better themselves and drive change in their communities and contribute meaningfully to the economy.