EMLM Mayor’s Bursary Programme paves way for disadvantaged youth

Groblersdal

The Mayor of Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality (EMLM), Cllr David Tladi, said the EMLM Mayor’s Bursary Programme has reached a milestone of been successfully sending 100 students, coming from low-income families to different South African higher education institutions throughout the first two years of this council’s present mandate.

The Mayor’s Bursary Programme was designed a few years ago to assist deserving students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who struggle to access tertiary education due to financial challenges.

According to the municipality, applications for the bursaries will be opening at the end of October 2024 and the municipality will communicate in due course on application criteria and requirements.

Tladi said the initiative was inspired by the words of the late President of South Africa, Dr Nelson Mandela, stating: “Education is the great engine of personal development”.

“A child of agricultural workers can become the president of a large country, a daughter from a peasant family can become a doctor, and a miner’s son can become the head of the mine via education. Individuals differ from each other based on how we use the resources we have, not on what they are assigned,” he said.

Mayor Tladi said the bursary programme continues to be a compelling narrative and serves as proof of the municipality’s reputation for providing access to high-quality education. “Presently, the Mayor’s Bursary Programme has provided opportunity to a large number of young people who would have otherwise faced difficulties with registration costs to access institutions of higher learning,” he said.

Additionally, Tladi indicated that to absorb youth empowerment into the municipality’s system, EMLM is currently uplifting a number of young people from Elias Motsoaledi through their experiential programmes.

“Our municipality placed 20 young people in a 2-year internship programme with the assistance of SALGA. There are currently eight finance interns being advertised and 39 experiential learners in our system, to whom we provide valuable knowledge and work experience to aid them in their job search efforts,” explained Tladi.

The mayor said he believes that by exposing the youth to practical work environments, they are equipping them with the necessary practical skills which will ensure that they gain sufficient experience to be able to apply for, and obtain jobs anywhere.

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