NYDA takes youth access fight into mining’s closed rooms

Mining has long been one of the hardest sectors for young South Africans to enter. Ownership is concentrated, procurement networks are entrenched and access to capital is tightly controlled. Against that reality, the decision of theNational Youth Development Agency(NYDA) to insert itself intoMining Indaba 2026is an attempt to confront those barriers directly, rather than work around them.

Bonga Makhanya, the agency’s executive deputy chairperson, said the move is driven by a recognition that mining and energy remain largely untransformed – and that young people continue to struggle to gain a foothold in both sectors. “Mining and energy are industries where young people struggle to enter,” he said. “Mining Indaba becomes a very strategic platform for us to engage decision-makers on how we grow investment and funding into youth development.” The logic is simple.

TheMining Indabais one of the few spaces where ministers, regulators, mining executives and investors are in the same room. For the NYDA, being present is not about profile. It is about access to people who make decisions about capital, policy and procurement.

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The agency, Makhanya said, is using the platform to push a shift from symbolic inclusion towards practical participation. That, he argues, means intervening at three points: policy, enterprise development and skills linked to real work. At a policy level, the NYDA wants regulators to reconsider how existing funding instruments are structured.

In particular, it is pushing for portions of exploration and small-scale mining funds to be set aside for youth-led ventures, with criteria that do not automatically exclude first-time entrants. “These are bottlenecks we’ve identified,” Makhanya said. “Relaxing certain requirements could lead to higher participation of young people in the sector.” The second focus is procurement.

Mining houses spend billions each year on goods and services, but those value chains are difficult for new players to enter. The NYDA is proposing a purchase-order financing model in which it provides start-up capital to youth-owned businesses while mining companies commit to awarding them work. “What we are trying to do is de-risk youth businesses entering mining by pairing access to capital with guaranteed work,” Makhanya said.

“That allows young entrepreneurs to complete projects they would otherwise never access.” A similar approach underpins the agency’s thinking on skills development. Rather than funding training that does not lead anywhere, the NYDA wants mining companies to commit to internships and placements, while the state covers training and stipend costs through existing mechanisms. The condition, Makhanya said, is that young people must have credible exit opportunities.

The deeper challenge, however, lies in ownership. Mining remains shaped by legacy capital, with assets and wealth often passing from one generation to the next. Makhanya argues that breaking this pattern requires intervention at the exploration stage, where new mines and minerals are first developed.

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