Premier Chupu Mathabatha: Youth Day celebrations

Address by the Premier of Limpopo Mr Chupu Mathabatha on the occasion of the Youth Day celebrations held at Riba Cross Village

Programme director;
Members of the Executive Council;
Executive Mayor and mayors of our local municipalities; Councillors;
Leaders of various political parties; Leaders of our youth formations; 
Young people of Limpopo;
The people of Riba-Cross:

I greet you in honour and memory of the fearless, militant yet disciplined and focussed youth generation of 1976.

On this important National Youth Day, I greet you on behalf of our provincial government; the government that is committed to the development of young people.

I wish to welcome in this provincial commemoration rally young people from all our districts; young people from Mopani district; young people from Waterberg district; young people from Capricorn District; young people from Vhembe District, and indeed our host young lions; the young people of Sekhukhune District.

I wish to welcome in this provincial commemoration rally young people from all sectors.

I speak of young people in business; young people in politics; young people in academia; young people in the art and entertainment business; young people who are in the NGO sector; and all young people in our province.

We commend all of you for doing what you are doing in your various spaces and different sectors. All of you are contributing to the efforts to make our province and our country an oasis of youth dreams.

In whatever you do, wherever you may be in this province, you must be assured of our hand of support and tutelage.

Where you seem not to see this hand of  support  you  must never hesitate to come knocking at our doors.

Programme Director;

You all know that on this day, exactly 40 years ago,  young people of this country marched and braved bullets, teargas, police dogs and an assortment of state brutality tactics.

They did this as they sought to challenge and change an evil system which was based on the discrimination of the Black majority.

The evil system of apartheid was designed to advantage the White minority and impoverish the Black majority.

Today, we are reminded of the extraordinary courage and sacrifices of the Youth Generations before you, the generation of 1976. Theirs is a courage you must emulate.

You must not only emulate the courage of these youth martyrs of 1976, you must also emulate their discipline, focus and the love they had for this country.

The bravery and selflessness of the 1976 Youth Generation reminded us that there is no power greater than youth power. We owe a lot to the youth generation of 1976. You owe a lot to the youth generation of 1976. We all owe a lot to the youth generation of 1976.

The least you can do in honour of that  brave  generation  of youth martyrs is to make something of your own lives as young people. The blood of the generation of 1976 has laid a foundation for your own personal development.

Your personal development is exactly what the young Solomon Mahlangu had in mind when he said that his blood would nourish the fruit of freedom. It is out of your personal development that you would be powered to make your own contribution towards  the development of our province and the country.

You must always remember that the generation of 1976 was prepared to die so that you would not have to struggle against an inferior education. We know that apartheid education was not only inferior but was equally inaccessible.

We know that before this ANC government education was only a privilege of the elite few who could pay. Today, over 96% of children in this province go to school without paying a single cent.

Today, thousands of children in this province enjoy free meals at school five days a week. Today, those school children who reside far from school enjoy a free-off charge scholar transport, to and from school every schooling day.

The government has opened the highest number of TVET Colleges in this province. Students in these colleges are also sponsored by government so that they can be able to get their diplomas and certificates.

Last year we also announced that we have re-opened Madzivhandila and Tompi Seleka Agricultural Colleges. These colleges are indeed fully functional and have begun to make an impact in skills development in the agricultural sector.

There is no doubt that we are well on track towards producing young crop and animal scientists in the province.

In February during the State of the province Address I proudly announced to the people of this province that the first-ever medical school in the province was no longer a pipe-dream but a reality.

This medical school which is at University of Limpopo admitted its first group of 60 students earlier this year. As the provincial government, we went further to offer students in this school full bursaries to the tune of R10 million.

This is part of the evidence that we  are serious about developing young people in this province. We know that youth development is an important investment in the future of this province and the country.

Your simple task in this regard is to make education fashionable. You must seize the opportunities that came with our freedom and democracy to equip yourselves with skills which you will use to advance the development of our country.

Programme Director;

Our freedom and democracy has come with a lot of opportunities for you as young people who wish to pursue business and entrepreneurship. This government is providing support to all small businesses, particularly those owned by young people.

Young people who have an appetite for entrepreneurship are encouraged to consider starting their own businesses. Do it today, do not wait for tomorrow. Government support is there, all what you need to do is to link- up with relevant agencies and institutions.

The Department of Small Business Development is implementing a variety of programmes to uplift  small businesses, particularly those that are owned by young people.

Cooperatives, including youth owned Cooperatives can access financial support up to R350 000 through the Cooperative Incentive Scheme in the Department of Small Business Development.

Young people can also take advantage of initiatives such as the National Informal Business Upliftment Strategy which is aimed at elevating informal businesses owned by women, youth and people with disabilities in rural areas.

This government is committed to making funding available to assist you you’re your business ventures.

Finance institutions such as the Small Enterprise Finance Agency are available to assist you.

Thus far, government through the Small Enterprise Finance Agency has disbursed over R3.2 billion to over 200 000 small businesses.

Last year alone SEFA approved R1.1 billion of loan facilities and disbursed R1.08 billion to over 45 000 SMMEs and co- operatives

This time around the government has allocated R1.7 billion to fund youth-owned businesses through the Small Enterprise Funding Agency.

All what you need for you to be able to access these funds is a decent or workable business plan.

If you cannot draft a business plan you can always approach the Limpopo Economic Development Agency, they have a dedicated unit which is available to assist  you  with  services such as development of a workable business plans.

Part of LEDA’s mandate is to turn your business idea into reality.

As young people I challenge you to stop the unproductive habit of self-pity; you must wake up, seek  information  and  utilise such information for your betterment and for the betterment of your communities.

LEDA is available to provide you with easy access to essential business development services, including education, market access and promotion you need to support the realisation of your business dreams.

I challenge youth organisations which are here and all those that are operating in this province to assist in taking this type of information to your constituencies.

A young person as far as Madombidzha must have access to this information. A young person in Dzingidzingi must know where to go if she needs to register her business.

A young person in Mokhurumela must not struggle to access funding information whilst you claim to exist in the name  of young people. As youth organisations you must not only exist in the name of young people, you must also exist in their interest.

You must work hard to ensure that a young person at Mmapela would know how and where to access services such as:

  • co-operative development and support;
  • business incubation;
  • business advisory services; and
  • Business capacity development programmes.

As youth organisations, you must work with the Youth Directorate in the Office of the Premier to make this and other information accessible to young people.

At the end of the day, there shouldn’t be an excuse for young people with business ideas not to succeed. This is because the success of youth businesses would translate into the success of our provincial economy.

Programme Director;

Let me also take this opportunity to challenge young people who are gathered here, both directly and through your various organisations, to take up the important task of becoming the ambassadors of positive life style.

The Youth of 1976 fought courageously and defeated apartheid; today you are called upon to summon similar courage in the fight against drugs.

The proliferation of drugs in our communities has reached unacceptable levels.

The effects of these drugs in our communities are heart breaking and devastating.

What you may think and regard as harmless fun fast develops into a sticky web that reduces our young people into drug dependent monsters.

We have seen young people dropping out of school; young people resorting to the life of crime and deceit merely to feed drug addiction.

We have seen promising young minds turned into unthinking buffoons because of drugs.

In some heart-breaking cases, we have heard of young people killing their own parents because of the effect of drugs in their lives.

Drugs will take away your reasoning, take away your compassion and ultimately take away the person in you – you will just remain as an empty vessel which can only be filled by more drugs.

Drugs will isolate you from your loved ones and introduce you to new and strange friends. I urge you to hate and fight drugs with the same vigour and tenacity that the 1976 generation hated and fought apartheid.

Part of your role as young people is to identity these drug pushers on our schools, at our churches and in our street corners.

These are not your friends. They are enemies of your personal development, and they are enemies of our society.

Report them and we will ensure that the law deals with them as ruthless as a bull dog deals with a bone.

My dearest young people,

Related to this is the task to protect yourselves from preventable diseases. We want you protected against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS.

You must never let the spark of your potential be extinguished by reckless life style.

On our part as government we are doing everything possible to protect you. The rest is in your hands.

Earlier this year the MEC of Health, Mme Phophi Ramathuba launched flavoured condoms, this was as a response to your complains about the unpleasant odour of previous condoms.

We do not want you to have an excuse to engage in unprotected sex.

Programme Director;

Frantz Fanon says that each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it.

The question before you as this generation of young people is whether you can be trusted with the mission to reconstruct and develop our country from the inherited ashes of apartheid colonialism.

You can suspend your answer now, but go and provide that answer in the ballot box on the 3rd of August.

Let your vote roar in the ballot box just as Solomon Mahlangu’s machine gun roared in the jungle.

The future of this country is indeed in your hands, and it will be what you make of it.

I thank you!

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