MOT Youth Leadership Graduation in Burgersdorp

On 12 May 2022, we finished our MOT Programmes with our MOT Youth in Burgersdorp, Walter Sisulu Municipality and hosted our graduation, powered by Scatec.

22 of our MOT Youth graduates are from Hanover, Burgersdorp, Philipstown, Petrusville and the programme was facilitated by Programmes and Training Manager, Andiswa Makha and MOT Coach Nathaniel January.

A MOT participant and a community member of the town of Burgersdorp, Sanelisiwe Sikweyiya (Sane), secretary of Sinako Engagement & Convenor of the Youth Pillar, saw the need for MOT to be implemented in her very own community as she felt that the youth struggled a lot with life’s challenges which resulted within some falling into bad habits.

In her own words “Like in many communities in our country, unemployment has become a problem, this has crippled and demotivated our youth immensely. As a result, our youth has resorted to a life of crime, drugs, alcohol and prostitution. We also have a huge challenge of teen pregnancy and drop-outs. When I enrolled in the MOT programme, I saw an opportunity to motivate and empower our youth and bring a sense of meaning back into their lives. The young in our community feel like they do not belong anywhere, and I feel like this programme can change that.”

The MOT Sessions took place from October 2021 and were completed in May 2022.

Over the past year and this year, we have seen our students persevere and commit to achieving their goals. We cannot be more proud of them. We would like to salute all graduates and wish them well.

Speakers at the Graduation

Councillor Nel, who was the keynote speaker for the day, spoke about the importance of mental health and how the MOT assists in this. “Listen to the individual and find out what they want from their lives. Be curious instead of judgemental and be proactive in taking the name of MOT forward within Burgersdorp and everywhere else”.

Mayor Davids congratulated all the youth on successfully completing the MOT Programme and spoke about why Government continues to support the Civil Society sector. She shared that Non-profit and Non-government organisations play a big role in their communities because they fill in that gap of meeting the needs of the communities through soft skills and more. She further stated that NGO’s and NPO’s should not only work for compliance’s sake but to note that you are making a difference in your own life and those of others.

“Remember you are your own person and the creator of your own paradise. Go and do it for yourself.”

Mayor Davids ended off with the quote by Mandela: ‘I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.‘

Scatec representative, Burn Godfrey spoke about why should we continue to invest in the youth of South Africa.

MOT Country Director, Viola Manuel shared that MOT wants to build a level of resilience, as we cannot ignore the social ills that our youth faces.

Valedictorian, Sanelisiwe Sikweyiya (Sane) encouraged the rest of the graduates to continue to make use of the skills and knowledge provided through the MOT Programmes and make the change in their environments. “We are the voice. It’s up to us as leaders.”

MOT SA would like to thank Scatec who have made their journeys possible and we look forward to the growth that the MOT Graduates’ communities will receive. 

Read about how you can participate in Courage to Care Day here

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