Stop dating sugar daddies, schoolgirls told

2011-10-18 18:01

Siphiwe Nyathi

 Emalahleni - The department of trade and industry (DTI) deputy minister, Elizabeth Thabethe, has told schoolgirls to stop dating sugar daddies and focus on their education.

Thabethe was speaking to 100 girls from different schools in Mpumalanga at a three-day entrepreneurial seminar in Emalahleni over the weekend.

“Stop dating sugar daddies or making babies because some of you have the potential to change your families' poor background. Refuse to be the statistics of teenage pregnancy for the sake of [a] child support grant but be an agent of change in your family and community,” urged Thabethe.

The deputy minister encouraged the pupils, who are in Grades 10 and 11, to find role models in their community and follow their steps.

Hard work and commitment

"There are successful entrepreneurs in your communities, associate yourself with them and be inspired by their hard work and commitment.

"Look at yourself in the mirror and see an amazing entrepreneur; don't see a domestic worker,” said Thabethe.

During the seminar, each school was given an opportunity to present a viable entrepreneurial idea to a panel of judges comprising successful women.
The girls also discussed careers they would pursue.

Asked if they planned to become ministers one day, the girls told Thabethe that they were not interested in politics.

“I will never be a minister because your life is always in danger and your future is uncertain. I want to have a career, not be a politician,” said Nolwazi Nkosi, 15, from Stintile Secondary School in KaNyamazane, outside Mbombela.
Nkosi said she was planning to study radiography.

Another pupil, Sizile Mlombo, 15, from Dlomodlomo Secondary School in Elukwatini, said she was happy that her school was chosen as one of three finalists during the seminar.

Fresh ideas

“We worked very hard to come up with something new and fresh because we want to be entrepreneurs, not businesswomen.

"A businesswoman is someone who goes into a market that already exists, but an entrepreneur comes up with something fresh. The person who came up with a cellphone saw that the landline was not enough and invented something interesting,” said Mlombo.

Mlombo's team came up with an energy-saving device that uses solar energy.

Gender and women empowerment head at DTI Bongi Ludidi said the seminar, which was organised in partnership with Cell C, was part of the department's Techno-girls programme.

The Techno-girls programme is part of the department's Technology for Women in Business initiative.

Ludidi said the programme aimed to promote a culture of entrepreneurship among schoolgirls and also encourage them to pursue careers related to science and technology.

The selected girls received training from the Small Enterprise Development Agency in preparation for the seminar.

The three finalists were expected to accompany the deputy minister to the Global Summit of Women in Greece next year as well as attend the Technology for Women in Business Awards in Bloemfontein later this month.

However, none of the teams qualified to take their business ideas to an international event.

- African Eye