T Mbeki: Youth Day

16 June 2006

Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Minister in The Presidency responsible for youth affairs, Essop Pahad
Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Premier of Gauteng, Mbhazima Shilowa
Your Worship, Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo
National Youth Commission Chairperson, Jabu Mbalula
National and Provincial Youth Commissioners
Youth leaders and our esteemed youth
Members of the June 16th Foundation
Leaders of our political parties and civil society formations
Our religious and traditional leaders
The distinguished national, provincial and national leaders and representatives
of our people
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Our valued guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Fellow South Africans

On behalf of the government of the people, I convey the warmest greetings to
all of you who have gathered here today and to the people of South Africa as a
whole, wherever they are, on this important day in our calendar, National Youth
Day.

I would like to thank the National Youth Commission for organising this
important commemoration of the 1976 youth uprisings. We also thank them for the
work they are doing to assist young people to confront today's many and varied
challenges.

We are gathered here today, as part of our country's observance of the 30th
Anniversary of the heroic actions of the youth of South Africa who faced the
might of the apartheid forces from June 16th 1976 onwards.

Earlier today some of us walked in the footsteps of the thousands of young
heroes and heroines who died, were maimed and persecuted, as they fought the
apartheid forces of repression three decades ago.

We walked from Morris Isaacson High School and crossed the Mofolo Bridge to
the Hector Petersen Memorial, to pay homage to the young people who intervened
30 years ago to speed up our advance to freedom.

This day, National Youth Day, is a moment of thanksgiving dedicated to the
young people of our country for the contribution they made to free South Africa
from the tyranny of apartheid.

It gives all of us the opportunity to salute the courageous actions of our
youth, whose struggles made it possible for us to begin the labour of love, to
build a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

In this regard, it is important that we should always remember all the brave
young people those who started the Uprising in Soweto on the 16 June 1976 and
are not with us today such as Tsietsi Mashinini, Hector Petersen, Lassie
Ndlovu, Khotso Seatlholo, as well as thousands of others from all corners of
our country, both urban and rural.

I therefore humbly request that all South Africans who are participating in
the various rallies to commemorate June 16, as well as those at home, should
spend a solemn moment of contemplation, however brief it may be, to remember
the difficult days of struggle that claimed many lives, and to salute the
courageous young people who helped to accelerate the pace of our struggle for
freedom.
We remember the youth of 1976 because they have left us a lesson that it is
possible for young people to stand up and confront the challenges facing them.
We remember them because they have left a legacy of bravery and determination
in the face of what appeared to be insurmountable difficulties.

We remember them because we would like the youth gathered here today and
their comrades throughout our country, to follow their example of unwavering
commitment, as they confront the modern day challenges of poverty and
unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, AIDS and other diseases, illiteracy,
women and child abuse, and other problems that make the lives of our youth
difficult.

Less than two months ago we celebrated the 12th anniversary of our
liberation. Much has been done during our years of freedom to respond to the
challenge to provide a better life for all our people. This includes the
important task to promote youth empowerment and development.

However, despite everything that has been done, all of us know that we still
have a long road ahead of us before we can say that we have made sufficient
progress towards achieving the goal of youth empowerment and development.

All of us know there are still some children who go to school hungry. We
know that there are still some children who attend school in dilapidated
buildings. We know that we still have much to do to improve the quality of
education in many of our schools.

We also know that even when our young people manage to reach our
institutions of higher learning, a good number among them find it difficult to
get jobs and otherwise use their qualifications to build sustainable
livelihoods.

All of us therefore know that one of our biggest challenges is to reduce
youth unemployment and the consequent poverty that afflicts many of our young
people.

We also know that we are still confronted by a serious problem of the abuse
of children and young women, including the heinous crime of rape.

With regard to these and other challenges, all of us must answer the
question whether we are doing enough, individually and collectively, to empower
and develop our youth, and show them through our deeds that they are growing up
in a society that really cares about their future.

Individually and collectively we should answer these questions by doing
practical work, to ensure that our youth attend school, that they get good
education, acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for their own development
and their full participation in the reconstruction of our country, and, at all
times, have someone to turn to in case of need.

To help address this challenge, our government has continuously sought to
ensure that young people have better access to education at all levels. As we
know, our interventions in this regard include the school feeding scheme,
building new schools and classrooms, and providing bursaries for poor students
through the National Student Finance Aid Scheme, to make it possible for many
young people to access higher education.

But as we know, the levels of poverty in our country mean that, for many
young people, even the money made available through the National Student
Finance Aid Scheme is not enough. It is important therefore that all of us,
individually and collectively, should find additional ways to assist our young
people to access higher education.

To make further progress in youth development, among other things, our
government is now working to improve our Further Education and Training
colleges, to increase youth access to the skills our economy and society
need.

At the same time, we must pay particular attention to the task to improve
the competence of our teachers and the quality of teaching, as well as improve
the performance of our schools in such areas as science and mathematics. We
must also improve our counselling system to guide our youth to choose the
relevant and satisfying careers.

We must also continue to value our youth as an important part of our
population, as tomorrow's adults and as the future leaders of our country and
society.

In this regard we should strive to inspire our youth with the ethos and
values of Ubuntu. This means that it is the duty of every adult member of our
communities to contribute to the proper upbringing and socialisation of young
people, teaching them such important values as personal integrity, solidarity
with the poor, selflessness and preparedness to do voluntary work that benefits
our communities.

In the spirit of the morality that inspired the June 16 generation that
helped to liberate our country, today's youth should join the fight against
women and child abuse. They should engage in struggle against corruption
wherever it rears its ugly head, whether in business, in government or in our
communities.

The youth of today should honour the martyrs of 1976 by defending the gains
of our freedom, refusing to be part of those who disrespect our freedom by
abusing other people, robbing, raping, killing and destroying public and
private property.

They should take the lead in honouring the principles and the intent of our
Constitution, because by so doing they will be advancing the struggle for a
better South Africa for which the youth of 1976 made enormous sacrifices.

The youth of today should be at forefront of public discussion concerning
the resolution of the many challenges that face our society.

They should help the South African society that is being born properly to
define itself, respecting our history, and our diverse cultures and
traditions.

As we work to create opportunities for the development of our youth, we must
also ensure that the youth is informed of these opportunities.

These include the programmes provided by the Umsobomvu Youth Fund to enable
the youth to start their own businesses, and to expand enterprises they might
be running.

We must also mobilise the youth to participate in strengthening all spheres
of our system of government. With regard to local government, among other
things, we must strive to involve the youth in the Ward Committees, and include
youth development programmes in the municipal Integrated Development Plans.

As an example of what can be done, we are encouraged, among others, by the
involvement of the National Youth Commission, through the National Youth
Service, in a housing construction project in the North West Province, in
partnership with the Moses Kotane Municipality.

The houses that have been built were handed over to poor families in March
this year. This initiative demonstrates the same spirit and commitment of the
youth of 1976, to work together to change our society for the better.

Indeed, we must continue to work to ensure that youth development is fully
integrated in our national development initiatives such as the Expanded Public
Works Programme, the various learnerships and the Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA).

We are indeed very happy that the National Youth Commission has been dealing
with many of the development challenges facing the youth of our country. I am
confident that guided by the National Youth Development Policy Framework, and
working with all structures of government, the Youth Commission will continue
to help guide youth development in our country.

In this context, by agreement with the National Youth Commission, we
are:

* Setting up 100 new Youth Advisory Centres in all the provinces, to ensure
the full participation of young people in the democratic and development
processes of this country.
* Enrolling at least 10 000 young people in our National Youth Service.
* Enrolling 5 000 young volunteers to act as mentors to vulnerable
children.
* Expanding the reach of our business support system to young people and
intensifying the Youth Cooperatives Programme.
* Closely monitoring the impact of our programmes targeted on youth employment,
skills training and business development.

Through these and other efforts we are making practical efforts to enable
our youth to participate in all aspects of our life. We are working to ensure
that our young people access all available opportunities. We seek to create the
possibility for them to use their talents to improve themselves and help build
the new South Africa.

Today, there are many young people who are involved in the informal economy.
We must support and assist these young people to join the formal business
sector, especially within the category of small, medium and micro enterprises.
This must include both access to finance and business skills.

This also applies to those who are unemployed and are unable to make a
living for no fault of their own. We must reach out to these young people,
among other things to assist them to acquire the requisite skills and resources
that would afford them the opportunity to take the high road to success.

To assist young people to achieve such success, I urge the National Youth
Commission, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, and all structures of government, to make
the relevant information easily available to young people in all parts of our
country, and go out of their way to ensure that they are accessible to our
youth.

Further, we must improve our efforts to facilitate the placement in our
companies of unemployed young people with priority skills and various
educational qualifications, who are on the Umsobomvu Youth Fund database.

I would also like to take advantage of this historic anniversary to urge our
municipalities to provide libraries and sports fields for young people. We must
also ensure that our schools and other educational institutions are able to
take advantage of modern communication and information technologies. In
addition, our schools should enable our learners to participate in extra-mural
activities such as organised debates and sport.

I also appeal to business people and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
to contribute whatever they can to help young people, particularly in black
areas, to improve their skills and develop themselves as well-rounded
individuals. Let all of us, led by our health workers; continue to teach our
youth about the importance of safe sex and healthy life styles.

Clearly, it is only through a concerted effort by all social forces in our
country that we can speed up our progress towards meeting the objective we have
set ourselves of achieving youth empowerment and development.

Individually and collectively, let us identify something practical that we
can do to help our young people. This could be a training project, a mentoring
programme, engagement in extra lessons for learners, participation in a poetry
group or a sports club.

Let us, together, help the young people of our country to defeat the
idleness, boredom and absence of opportunities that lead to anti-social
activities, and lives that amount to a future of hopelessness. On this historic
day, let each one of us say that we have a duty to do something to help realise
the dreams of our youth!

To our youth, I would like to say draw inspiration from, and emulate the
determination to succeed, currently being demonstrated by the athletes of all
ages who are, as we speak, participating in this year's Comrades Marathon.

We extend our best wishes to all the participants in this outstanding annual
sports event, understanding clearly that the national race to achieve the
objective of youth development and empowerment, and a better life for all,
demands of all of us the perseverance, the determination, the patience and
stamina of the long-distance runners who are competing in the Comrades
Marathon.

I wish you all a very happy National Youth Day. May the courage and vision
displayed by our youth, 30 years ago on 16 June 1976, serve to inspire and
motivate all of us as we strive to bring happiness to our youth and people
during this, our Age of Hope.

Long live the memory of the June 16 martyrs!

Issued by: The Presidency
16 June 2006
Source: SAPA