“Deputy Minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube Launches Hospitality Internship Programme with Diageo, UJ, and YES to Empower South African Youth”
Central News reports:
“South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has teamed up with Diageo South Africa, the University of Johannesburg’s School of Tourism and Hospitality, and the Youth Employment Service (YES) to launch a new internship programme aimed at giving young people a foothold in the hospitality sector. The initiative was unveiled on Thursday, 2 October 2025, at the University of Johannesburg’s Bunting Road Campus, focusing on skills training, internships, and job opportunities to tackle high youth unemployment and drive transformation in an industry known for its growth but slow change. …
“The new programme is part of Diageo’s Learning for Life initiative, which has a proven track record of equipping young people with practical skills in hospitality. It targets disadvantaged youth, offering training in areas like culinary arts, service management, and entrepreneurship. Participants will gain hands-on experience through internships at partner establishments, with a focus on turning trainees into chefs, creators, innovators, and business owners.”
Assessment
As detailed in our analysis on bigalcohol.exposed, Diageo’s “Learning for Life” programme fits into a broader global pattern where the alcohol industry giant presents itself as an engine of social and economic development. These initiatives are framed as empowerment projects but function primarily as public relations tools that build brand legitimacy, open marketing channels, and entrench corporate relationships with governments and educational institutions.
The launch event, led by a Deputy Minister, effectively grants the company state endorsement. This kind of collaboration risks blurring the lines between public service and corporate promotion, allowing Diageo to associate its brand with opportunity, youth advancement, and social progress. Such alliances also help Big Alcohol influence public narratives about “responsible industry partnership,” which can undermine commitment to protecting communities through evidence-based alcohol policy.
For advocates, this latest conflict of interest case underscores the urgent need for clear conflict-of-interest standards in government partnerships. Public institutions should not serve as platforms for alcohol industry image-building or policy-making access. True youth empowerment requires independent, transparent investment – not collaborations that allow a harmful industry to rebrand itself as a development actor.
This case is a key opportunity to draw attention to the harm the alcohol industry causes to South African youth and how alcohol fuels a host of problems that burden South African youth, such as low academic achievement, adverse childhood experience, crowding out of household spending on healthy food and school material, mental health problems, violence, and more – all detailed in Movendi’s analysis of alcohol as obstacle to sustainable development.