T Didiza: Launch of Mpumalanga National Youth Service

30 July 2007

Venue: Pilgrim's Rest, Mpumalanga
Date: 30 July 2007

Programme Director,
MEC for Public Works,
Members of the Provincial Legislature,
Executive Mayors present,
Senior government officials present,
Distinguished guests

I would like to greet the National Youth Service participants gathered here
in front of us.

Heita basha, Heita! Forward with skills development, Forward Halala ngeNYS
Halala!

It gives me great pleasure to witness the launch of the National Youth
Service in Mpumalanga today. The surroundings are quite auspicious, if not a
little long in the tooth. Apparently Pilgrim's Rest is a living museum, having
been set up way back in 1873 as a gold field. I am proud that, because of the
efforts of these young people, this historical gem will not be lost on the
generations to come. Even though the last gold nugget from this area was mined
way back in 1972, the village has survived to become a National Monument and a
living museum. Indeed we cannot afford to lose such a rich heritage.

The launch today is a first step on the long road to satisfying our
country's great need for artisans as well as providing our youth with an
opportunity to get started as employed people as well as being
entrepreneurs.

During the state of the Nation Address in Parliament earlier this year,
President Mbeki indicated an urgent need for the Expanded Public Works to be
stepped up a gear to provide greater leadership to job creation and skills
development efforts of government. We have tried to carry out the marching
orders. We launched the National Youth Service (NYS) at Botshabelo in
Bloemfontein on 14 April this year. A lot of ground has been covered since that
launch, hence this provincial launch today.

Honourable guests, our government assets, particularly our buildings, give
us a particular leverage to be used to create employment for the youth. We are
aiming for a skills revolution and empowerment for our youth. The young people
who are being recruited to this programme will also be enrolled with our
further education colleges and those industry colleges as artisan trainees so
that at the end of their national youth service they would have given their
service to their country whilst gaining skills for themselves as well.

The even today provides a beacon of hope for the youth of our country. It is
also a clarion call for them to pick themselves up and make use of all the
opportunities that are being availed to them for self-improvement and that of
their country.

It is very important for all spheres of government to note that our Expanded
Public Works Programmes (EPWP) is just one component of government's strategy
to overcome unemployment and poverty. It is a national framework to be
implemented by all public entities through their strategic objectives, revenue
base and capital budgets. We are focusing on using public sector spending so as
to achieve developmental outcomes in respect of reducing unemployment and
poverty. If implemented effectively, the impact could be significant, as public
sector spending constitutes 25% of Gross Domestic Product.

Service delivery, poverty alleviation and job creation are paramount
objectives of government. The National Youth Service is one of our strategies
deliver on these objectives. The maintenance and provision of infrastructure
are some of the tactics. These areas of activity will create work opportunities
for the youth that has been selected, but they will also help improve the
skills base of the province. Local communities will also be involved greatly in
service delivery. It is widely acknowledged that in projects where local
communities are involved and derive benefits, there are fewer disruptions and
there is a better sense of ownership of the infrastructure that has been
constructed.

Fellow South Africans, I firmly believe that with the launch of this
programme, we are on course to meet our targets. All three spheres of
government are forever looking for ways to better coordinate this programme and
I believe that the uptake across the board can only improve from now on. Our
collective effort and dedication will see us through the challenging tasks we
are facing as a country. I would like to congratulate these young people who
have been selected for this programme. I would like to sound a word of caution:
this will not be a hunky dory experience all the way. There will be challenges,
there will be problems. But as someone has said, it does not matter how many
times you fall, what matters is how many times you get up, dust yourself off
and move forward until you reach your goal. Our challenge today is to ensure
that those that have been selected keep to the task at hand and make us all
proud at the end of the twelve months in this programme.

Our focus on the construction sector and allied sectors takes full
cognisance of the immense potential of the industry as a creator of job
opportunities. Under the impact of growing investment and the EPWP, employment
in the construction sector has risen greatly. With construction output set to
double, the industry has the potential to generate thousands of jobs by 2014,
contributing greatly to the goals of accelerated growth. Many of those who will
be employed, will need to be skilled. As we are gathered here today, we are the
engines of this skills revolution. We are all working to ensure that we
overcome bottlenecks in the development of critical skills.

I want to congratulate Mpumalanga for moving very fast in recruiting the
first 500 youths into the NYS. I know that you started with your recruitment
drive in March, even before the national launch of the NYS in April. This shows
the diligence and the enthusiasm we all need to ensure success of this project.
Your hard work, coupled with working together with other government departments
like the Department of Labour, which did the skills assessment for your
selected candidates, all bode well for the success of this project. We really
do need to entrench the culture of working together with other government
departments so that we can all shine at the end of the day. A successful
carrying out of the project of renovating this historical town will ensure that
when tourists descend on this living museum, they can see the real worth of
their visit. This then, will ensure that more tourist visit this province and
our country, thus creating more job opportunities.

We have just concluded the youth month of June, which was marked by a range
of activities that were meant to celebrate the achievements that our country
has made in championing youth development since the start of the
democratisation process in 1994. I am sure that everyone is aware of the
strides we have made in the last 13 years of our democracy. And it is exactly
for those successes that we cannot allow our country to regress because of the
scourge of poverty and underdevelopment. And surely the acceleration of the NYS
will ensure that we defeat these twin challenges in our country.

Once again I would like to congratulate everyone involved with this
trailblazing initiative and wish you the best in all the endeavours to be
undertaken.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Public Works
30 July 2007