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Thembisa Shologu
The Gauteng Provincial Government used the 2022 Youth Day commemorations to unveil the Youth Advisory Panel (GYAP) and the draft Gauteng Youth Development Strategy (GYDS).
The 46-anniversary commemorations were held at Morris Isaacs High School in Soweto under the theme: 'Promising sustainable livelihoods and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow.'
Speaking at the event, Premier David Makhura said the civil society-led GYAP will provide strategic policy advice to the provincial government on all matters of youth development in Gauteng. The panel is co-chaired by Makhura and Oagile Louw.
The fifteen (15) member Advisory Panel's first task is to help ensure that the Gauteng province has an integrated, holistic, and sustainable approach to youth development that can empower young people to play a positive and constructive role.
The Youth Development Strategy, which has been tabled to the Executive Council, will integrate youth development into the mainstream of policies, programmes, strategies, and the provincial budget to deliver positive youth development outcomes by addressing the needs of young people in Gauteng.
Makhura said the unveiling of these two initiatives is part of the commitments made during the State of the Province Address earlier this year on youth empowerment and development. 
"Today we move forward with the acknowledgment of the centrality of the role of young people. We want to mobilise this energy and potential and transform it into a force of changing the current situation", said Makhura.
Statistics reveal that 2.2 million young people in Gauteng are not in employment, education or in training. 
Given the youthfulness of Gauteng's population, Makhura said investing in youth development is crucial to the vision of transformation, modernisation, and reindustrialisation of Gauteng into an inclusive and globally competitive City Region. 
"The future is youth, who are most impacted by the challenges we face today. Our task is to support youth to unleash their potential", added Makhura.
Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Dr. Mpho Phalatse said government will continue to improve the quality and access to education.
"We want to see young people in key decision-making roles, bring them close to us, and allow them to lead. They are smart, they have got the drive",she said.
The 1976 Soweto uprising survivors, and their families braved the winter morning and attended the event which began with the Commemoration Walk from the June 16 Memorial Acre to the Hector Pieterson Memorial for a wreath-laying ceremony.