Address by President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the National Youth Day Commemoration, Tshwane Events Centre, Pretoria
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa,
Acting Minister of Arts and Culture Dr Siyabonga Cwele and all Ministers present,
Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura and all Premiers present,
Acting Mayor of Tshwane and councilors present,
MECs,
Members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures,
Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and other veterans of our liberation struggle
Advocate Geaorge Bizos
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Captains of commerce and industry,
The youth of our country,
Fellow South Africans,
Molweni, dumelang, sanibonani, good day to you all, goeiedag. Ninjani?
We have gathered here in Tshwane from many corners of our beautiful country, to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the tragic but heroic events of June 16, 1976.
June 16, which is now marked as National Youth Day, commemorates the sterling and selfless contribution of young people to the freedom and democracy we enjoy today.
Determined and brave young people demonstrated their hunger for equal citizenship, equal education, freedom, justice, dignity and a better life.
In memory of the youth of 1976, we extend warm greetings to all our young people here at this event and throughout the country.
We also warmly acknowledge at this event in particular, grade 11 and 12 learners from Mount Ayliff in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, who are here on a special school tour to Tshwane. We also welcome the adorable school choir from Hammanskraal, who also performed at the African Union Summit in Sandton this week. This is your day as young people, all of you, all over South Africa.
This year we have adopted the theme Youth Moving South Africa Forward for youth month!
The theme takes into account the fact that while the youth of 1976 fought for freedom and the creation of a democratic state, today’s youth activism is directed towards successfully tackling the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
To tackle these challenges successfully, you must empower yourselves through education.
We have thus made education an apex priority since the dawn of freedom because we believe it is a most effective weapon in the ongoing fight against poverty, inequality and unemployment.
Let me point out as well that today is the Day of the African Child which is commemorated every year on 16 June by Member States of the African Union (AU).
The AU designated this day in memory of heroism of South African youth in June 16. The day is used to highlight the rights of the African child.
The theme for this year’s Day of the African Child is “25 Years after the Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa”.
The AU chose this theme in order to intensify efforts of ending child marriages in many parts of the continent including our own country, where such practices still happen through customs such as ukuthwala.
We add our voice to the continental call for an end to these practices which are harmful to women and children.
This matter was discussed as well at the 25th Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU that we had the honour of hosting in the past week ending yesterday, June 15.
Issues on the table included among others, the promotion of regional integration and inter-Africa trade, championing the advancement of women which was the core theme, and also promoting peace and security and achieving sustainable development. The ultimate objective of the AU is to make Africa peaceful, stable, and prosperous. The successful Summit took these objectives forward meaningfully.
Compatriots and friends,
And dear young people,
The 2015 Youth day is highly significant as South Africa marks 60 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown in 1955.
The Freedom Charter declared amongst other things, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.
That was a powerful, visionary and reconciliatory statement which set the tone for the non-racial democracy that South Africa has established.
We want you to inherit that legacy of unity in diversity, non-racialism and anti-tribalism. We want you to love and respect one another as South Africans and as Africans, regardless of race, colour, creed or mother tongue that one speaks.
That is the South Africa that many of our illustrious leaders such as Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela fought very hard to build.
It is the South Africa that you, as the youth, should build.
Compatriots,
This year we also mark 21 years of freedom. We look back at the strides that government has made in improving the quality of life of all including the youth and work that must still be done.
The Freedom Charter states that the doors of learning and culture shall be opened.
In this vein, education continues to receive the biggest chunk of the national Budget as our weapon for socio-economic development.
Government currently invests more than six billion rand on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme to provide support to young people who are unable to pay.
In partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in the Presidency also runs the Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund which has disbursed more than 40 million rand and has helped five hundred and eighty six (586) poor, mostly rural youth to access higher education between 2014 and 2015.
Several government departments also provide bursaries in various fields such as social work, science and technology, teacher training, medical training and many others to open the doors of learning to the children of the poor and the working class.
One of the biggest difficulties facing our high school learners is knowing which career to choose.
In this regard, almost 900 000 young people were supported through the NYDA’s career guidance programmes.
We are building more institutions of higher learning as well. For example we are building three new universities and 12 technical and vocational training colleges.
Government also continues to build modern new schools to replace mud schools and other inappropriate structures.
Our youth has responded positively to our promotion of education. They continue to flock to higher education institutions each year seeking education.
However, another problem still remains.
The economy is not growing as fast as we want to and is not creating as many jobs as we need. As a result many of our graduates sit at home without jobs.
We reiterate our call to the private sector to open their businesses to the youth for internships and apprentices in line with the youth employment accord signed a few years ago.
We have to work together to provide opportunities for the youth, who are the future of our country. Government cannot perform this task alone. We thank all businesses that continue to employ young people and offer opportunities to them.
We are also encouraging young people to become entrepreneurs.
The Industrial Development Corporation in partnership with the NYDA and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) have ring-fenced 2,7 billion rand over the next five years for young people to take up opportunities in business.
In the last financial year also, the NYDA supported one thousand and forty three (1043) micro and small youth owned enterprises.
Furthermore, the NYDA has provided non-financial business development support to sixty two thousand nine hundred and ninety (62 990) young aspiring and established entrepreneurs.
Other service provided to youth includes national service training through programmes such as the National Rural Youth Service Corps in which young people are provided skills in fields such as construction and agriculture as well as discipline and good citizenship.
The successful Expanded Public Works Programme also provides opportunities of training and short-term employment for young people.
We have urged government departments to market the various training and development programmes that they offer nationally and provincially, as well as in municipalities in the country.
Already various Ministers and Deputy Ministers are engaged in a month long imbizo programme engaging our youth in various corners of our country, to inform them of opportunities that exist.
Once young people take up these opportunities their lives will improve further.
Young people have informed us that what they also need more, is a listening ear from the authorities.
In this regard, we held the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Youth Working Group on the 9th of June, in which we held five hours of discussions with leaders of more than 20 youth organisations.
The Working Group is a platform for the youth to participate in government policy-making.
It will enable young people to sensitize us about their needs, and assist in enhancing these policies for better future outcomes for the youth.
The work of the Presidential Youth Working Group will be taken forward through five work streams to promote our goal of achieving economic freedom.
These are:
- Economic Participation and Transformation
- Education, Skills and Second Chances
- Health Care and Combating Substance Abuse
- Nation Building and Social Cohesion and
- Building effective and Responsive Youth Development Institutions.
Our work is informed by the new National Youth Policy 2020, which is anchored on the National Development Plan (NDP).
The policy seeks to address head-on the challenges of joblessness, poor skills levels, poor healthcare access as well as substance abuse which affect our youth.
Fellow South Africans,
Indeed while working to solve all the problems affecting young people, we are also celebrating the achievements of our youth.
We are therefore pleased to have in our midst today, some outstanding young people who have done well in their respective fields.
They are an example of what South African youth is capable of achieving and what many are doing already in many corners of the country, moving South Africa forward in various fields.
I would like to introduce these special guests to you.
We have the youngest medical doctor in the country, Dr Sandile Kubheka. He completed his medical degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal when he was only 20 years old.
We are proud to introduce our own 25 year old rocket scientist, Siyabulela Xuza from Umthatha.
He studied energy engineering at Harvard University in the United States. The Americans named a mini-planet after him because of his achievements.
We also have the youngest pilot in the country if not the world, our 18 year old Grade 12 learner, Marcelle Nienaber. She obtained her pilot’s license at the age of 16 years.
We are also proud to introduce a young scientist who has developed the world’s first functional digital laser, Dr Sandile Ngcobo, who works at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) here in Pretoria.
We also have in our midst, the youngest skydiver in the South African National Defence Force, 22 year old Corporal Dakalo Mavhungu from Tshakuma village in Venda, Limpopo.
We want more young people to become achievers in sports. In this regard, we congratulate Sithelo Mlambo from uMlazi Township in Durban, the winner of the Karate World Cup competition that was recently held in Durban, hosted by South Africa for the first time.
We also acknowledge young people who have ventured into business, supported by the NYDA.
Patrick Mapetla from Ga-Matlala in Limpopo Province, runs a welding business making steel window frames and security gates.
Kerina Singh, from Durban, runs a business that repairs and replaces windscreens for vehicles.
Beauty Motsepe from Johannesburg runs a clothing manufacturing business supplying hotels and other corporate entities.
We also have a young couple from Cape Town, who run a leather manufacturing business, Chad and Erin-Lee Petersen.
Compatriots,
We are also very proud to see young women entering technical fields.
We welcome Unathi Hlalele, an electrical engineer at Eskom. She holds master’s degree in engineering from Wits University.
We also have a professional instrument mechanic, Motsidisi Mofokeng, who qualified at the Sedibeng Technical and Vocational Education and Training College and served her apprenticeship at Rand Water.
We also welcome a senior chemical engineer, Lungiswa Zuma who holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Cape Town in 2006.
We congratulate these young achievers. Our message to our youth is that it is possible to make a success of your life in your country, South Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen,
While we continue to provide financial support to young entrepreneurs, we know that young people need more than that.
They need coaching and mentoring by those who have made it, our captains of industry and commerce.
To this end, I am very happy today, to announce a critical partnership between the NYDA and the global Mara Mentor Foundation. This partnership will introduce the Mara Mentor mentorship initiative, an online mentorship scheme for our young businesspeople.
Mara Mentor was founded by Ashish J Thakkar, a highly regarded young global entrepreneur and outstanding role model for African youth. As of January 2015, Mara Mentor had approximately 600 thousand active mentees across more than 30 countries. We want South African youth to be part of that collective of empowered global youth.
We invite CEOs and other senior executives to be ready to perform this role of mentoring thousands of South African youth who want to go into business. The details of the initiative will be unveiled at the formal launch in Sandton tomorrow, June 17.
Compatriots,
Our message to young people today is that every young person must take responsibility for their own development and for the path towards economic freedom.
While government and business can provide the opportunities, young people themselves must take the initiative to develop themselves and those around them.
We also urge you today, to play your role in building a better South Africa and a stronger, united nation.
We want to build a patriotic youth that loves this country and who will do everything to defend and promote the interests of the Republic of South Africa.
We therefore ask you to do a few small things which will contribute a lot to building your country.
You have a patriotic duty to do the following:
1. Be your brother’s or sister’s keeper to create a more caring society.
2. Show respect and care for older persons, your parents and grandparents.
3. Promote voluntarism in your community and work to build what is broken, support the vulnerable and perform any other tasks that build your community.
4. Promote and defend democracy, its values and institutions in memory of the young freedom fighters of June 1976.
5. Participate in political processes and use your hard won democratic right to vote. Local government elections are coming soon next year. Prepare yourselves to vote by applying for identity documents without delay.
6. Protect and respect public property, symbols, signs and institutions in the country.
7. Finally, let us work together to promote our African identity.
We urge you to know the African Union anthem, functions and symbols. We also encourage you to take time to understand the history and culture of as many African countries and peoples as possible.
If we do all this, we will transform this country and create a better place for all.
We know that our youth is ready to play their role to move South Africa forward.
Earlier today, Deputy President Ramaphosa received your pledge and commitment in helping create a society that is non-racial, non-sexist, united, prosperous and democratic.
We are optimistic that we will work well together to build a better South Africa.
We are happy to have shared this occasion with you.
We wish you all a meaningful National Youth Day and a fruitful National Youth Month.
I thank you.
