Good Morning,
Eight days before Chris Hani was assassinated in April 1993, he was interviewed by social historian Luli Callinicos. On the eve of our democratic election, he said that South Africa faced a “new enemy” and a “new struggle. That enemy, he said, was socio-economic. It was about the struggle for jobs, houses, schools and hospitals so that we can build a more humane society. As the education generation we must lead the struggle for socio-economic transformation and a more humane society.
This year we celebrate 20 years of democracy following our victory over the brutal and oppressive Apartheid regime in 1994. Today we enjoy the freedom to associate, the freedom of choice, the freedom of speech and many other freedoms that generations of youth before us never enjoyed.
We must acknowledge and celebrate the significant progress we have made and that we continue to make as a young and vibrant democracy. Yes we may have many challenges to confront with youth unemployment being enemy number one. These are not new or unique challenges and it will not be easy to overcome them but we must never give up and we should work hard to collectively address them.
As we launch our 2014 Youth Month programme let us celebrate all the great successes of the last 20 years. This year the government of South Africa will be celebrating Youth Month under the theme: Youth Moving South Africa Forward! As the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) we have always emphasised our clarion call that it must be youth development for the youth, by the youth, with the youth. "Nothing about us without us."
Last year President Jacob Zuma appointed a new board to lead the NYDA. We immediately initiated a transformation programme with the vision of a new and improved NYDA. I am proud to say that our new strategy is yielding the desired results and our new approach seems to have repositioned the NYDA into a more credible and capable development agency for our country’s youth.
In the 2013/2014 financial year the NYDA achieved its best ever performance since inception in 2009. We were able to meet 26 out of our 28 key performance indicators which translate into a performance of 93% for the last financial year.
Our beneficiaries and the success stories captured in the corporate video illustrates some of the good work taking place in the NYDA but allow me to highlight some of our achievements with you:
Today we have an NYDA Business Grant Programme for young entrepreneurs who have ambitions of starting small and developing into highly successful, experienced and dynamic entrepreneurs in time to come. This NYDA Business Grant Programme disbursed more than R25 million to 589 micro and small youth enterprises in the last financial year. We further supported 38 063 young entrepreneurs with non-financial support to setup or expand their businesses.
Today we have the NYDA Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund disbursing R20 million worth of funding to young people who excel and wish to study further in pursuit of their dreams. The NYDA Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund assisted 236 young South Africans mainly from rural areas to access higher education. Our aim is to grow this scholarship fund into the largest scholarship fund on the African continent.
Our new and improved NYDA Outreach Programme has assisted 1 058 687 young South Africans with vital information to access the multitude of existing opportunities provided by government.
Today we have the NYDA Second Chance Matric Re-write programme offering thousands of young people a second chance to obtain their national senior certificate and boasting an 87% pass rate. As part of mainstreaming youth development we hope to scale up this programme to reach all those in need.
Today we can speak of an NYDA that has provided 975 507 young South Africans across the country with valuable career guidance information. Public perceptions of the NYDA have changed for the better so much so that in the last year we were able to raise R86 million more in donor funding which allowed us to over exceed in most of our targets.
Indeed we have performed well but we are cognizant of the fact that we are capable of doing more.
Honourable Minister, Deputy Minister, Premier, distinguished guests and young South Africans. It is with great pride and excitement that I announce the NYDA’s Youth Month Programme for 2014:
On the 7th day of June 2014 the NYDA will host our annual My History Educational Tour on the 1976 youth uprisings right here in Soweto, Gauteng. This event allows school pupils to participate in a cultural and historical tour of all the monuments related to the 1976 youth uprisings and this year we are adding a social dialogue to the programme. This social dialogue will allow young people to debate and share their thoughts on where we have come from as a nation and where we ought to be 20 years into our democracy.
On the 12th and 13th of June we will be hosting social dialogues in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape to discuss and build a broad-based consensus on the priority issues facing young people.
On the 14th day of June the NYDA will be launching a Loxion Hub in Prieska, rural Northern Cape. This Loxion Hub is already providing business premises to youth owned cooperatives involved in jewellery design, glass bead manufacturing and jewellery making. These business premises have been provided to young entrepreneurs free of charge through a partnership between the NYDA and the local municipality.
On the 15th day of June 2014 the NYDA will be in De Aar, Northern Cape hosting a social dialogue on ’20 years of democracy’ and what this means to young people. During the month of June the President will also be opening a Youth Agricultural Development Cooperative in Uthungulu, KZN together with the NYDA and the district municipality.
The main event where President Jacob Zuma will address the nation on the 16th day of June to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the 1976 youth uprisings will take place at the Galeshewe Stadium in Kimberley, Northern Cape.
And finally on the 23rd day of June we will launch the South African Youth Development Institute in partnership with the University of Johannesburg as an institute focused primarily on driving research in matters of youth development. It will be the first of its kind in the country.
We look forward to a successful youth month and I conclude with the wise words of Maya Angelou, American poet and social activist who passed away last week. She said quite simply and yet so profoundly, “Nothing will work unless you do.”
I thank you!
