Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor, Danny Jordaan, said the Metro needed to focus on the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality as well as the challenge of youth development.
Jordaan was joined at two Youth Day events yesterday by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Fatima Chohan.
In speech notes Jordaan said questions of job creation and skills development come to the fore during Youth Day celebrations.
He added that he had also appointed Andiswa Mama to his new Mayoral Committee with the express purpose of focussing on the youth in the Metro.
Deputy Minister Chohan lamented the fact that many young South Africans are giving birth to children and in other cases feel compelled to get intoxicated.
Addressing a Youth Day gathering at City Hall, Chohan called on young people to understand the value of self respect.
Meanwhile, DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, said one of the first priorities of a DA government would be to turn around the failing education system.
The DA leader said that young South Africans need to develop confidence and be equiped with skills to enter the job market to make a success of their lives.
Delivering his Youth Day message at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Maimaine said the state of our education, 21 years into our democracy, was shameful.
He warned that history would one day show that the failure to provide our children with a quality education will be our government's single biggest failure.
