30th anniversary of the Soweto and connected uprising released
29 May 2006
Age of Hope: Deepening Youth Participation in Development
On June 16, 1976, the South African youth took to the streets the struggle
for national liberation. Their courageous actions completely changed the
political landscape of our country towards the creation of a non-racial,
non-sexist, democratic and a prosperous people.
This year, 2006, the National Youth Commission (NYC), in partnership with
the national Government, Provincial Youth Commissions (PYCs), Gauteng
Provincial Government, the City of Johannesburg and youth formations, has
developed a national programme to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of that
fateful day.
This yearâs programme seeks to achieve the following:
* Retrace the impact of the footsteps of the 1976 Soweto Uprisings
generation in the evolution of our country
* Entrench youth participation in the national development programme to fight
poverty and create jobs
* Rally our youth around a common youth development cause through an Integrated
Sustainable Youth Development Strategy.
* To empower youth with relevant skills for sustainable livelihoods.
Among the key national youth development initiatives is the National Youth
Service programme
To ensure that the legacy of June 16, 1976, lives on the programme has the
following activities and focus areas:
a) reconnecting with history to accelerate national development
The NYC, after consultation with youth formations, took a decision that the
launch must be held the Morris Isaacson High school in Soweto. The move is
informed primarily by the fact that history tells our country that the school
was the starting point of the peaceful student march of 1976. Unfortunately the
apartheid government reaction resulted into violent confrontation that resulted
into the shooting and killing of more than 1000 young people throughout the
country.
Today, our country is a democracy and youth development opportunities
continue to grow for sustainable livelihoods of all South African youth, both
black and white.
It is for this reason that the youth development fraternity decided that on
the occasion of the commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of June 16, 1976, our
youth must be taken back to this point of history â Morris Isaacson High
school.
b) 10th Year of Institutionalised Youth Development
As part of developing this yearâs special programme, the NYC also noted the
fact that our country completes 10 years of the institutionalised youth
development in the form of Youth Commissions. Among the key breakthroughs the
NYC was able to make are the following:
* development of the National Youth Development Policy Framework to guide
youth development in South Africa. Lobbying for the setting up of programme to
respond to the economic plight of youth South Africans in the form of Umsobomvu
Youth Fund
* successfully lobbying and advocating for the adoption of the National Youth
Service programme by Government in 2003
* development of guidelines for municipalities to ensure integration of youth
development into the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), including Local
Economic Development plans
* ensuring that there is increased access to higher education by all,
particularly youth from previously disadvantaged communities. The 2005 Medium
Term Expenditure Framework of Government saw an increase of the allocation to
the National Student Finance Aid Scheme primarily set up to assist students
from previously disadvantaged communities. So is the recently released budget
statement of government.
* ensuring integration of youth development into key national development
initiatives such as the Expanded Public Works Programme, Learnerships,
Community Development Workers, and more recently, the Accelerated and Shared
Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA).
c) Debating Youth Development since 1994 (05/06/2006)
In preparation for the Youth Policy Review Convention, youth leadership will
converge at the Hector Peterson memorial to deliberate on the state of youth
development since the dawn of our democracy. It is acknowledged that the
democratic order has made significant strides to advance young people post the
apartheid era. Such initiatives include the setting up of youth development
initiatives such as Youth Commissions, and other programmes such as Umsobomvu
Youth Fund, learnerships, community development workers, the extension of the
expanded public works programme etc.
However, research shows that the evolution of the national development
programme requires more acceleration of youth development towards the
implementation of a seamless integrated strategy. The success of such approach
has shown positive signs in the implementation of such strategies in other
vulnerable such as people with disabilities and women. Government and the
private sector are accelerating the process of meeting the set development
targets of a number of vulnerable which include women and people with
disabilities.
d) The National Youth Policy Review Convention (05-08 June 2006)
On 28 October 2005, the NYC made proposals to Government on the need to have
integrated youth development in SA. Subsequently, Government (Cabinet
Statement, 23 November 2005) emerged with a statement that reads, âtaking into
account the growth initiative, the National Youth Development Policy Framework
will be reviewed and so will the impact of the current array of youth
development institutions.â
It is against this background that a decision was taken that a National
Youth Policy Review Convention must be held as part of this yearâs Youth
Development Month programme. The Youth Convention will intricately assess the
impact youth development initiatives and institutions have made on the lives of
young South Africans. It will also peruse the recommendations that emerged from
a research study conducted by the NYC which supports the proposal of a merger
of the functions of the National Youth Commission and Umsobomvu Youth Fund to
form a Youth Development Agency. The consideration of merging functions of
certain institutions emerged from the Ten Year Review of Government.
Provincial Youth Commissions are currently convening provincial summits to
ensure widespread consultation and maximum participation by all youth
development sub-sectors towards the Convention.
Expected to emerge from the Convention is the Integrated Strategy for
Sustainable Youth Development in South Africa. The Strategy will serve as a
benchmark against which to measure government commitment to youth development
in its implementation of the Programme of Action, including current
interventions such as AsgiSA.
The Convention is expected to resolve on the steps to be taken to kick-start
the Integrated Strategy for Sustainable Youth Development and the
institutionalisation of the Youth Development Agency.
e) Is AsgiSA talking to youth development?
The NYC welcomes Governmentâs commitment towards ensuring that youth
development is fully integrated into ASGISA as advanced by the youth sector
early this year. As part of its ongoing monitoring and evaluation work, the NYC
will assist in ensuring that the following 2006/7 ASGISA targets on youth
development are met:
* setting up of 100 new advisory centres
* enrolment of at least 10 000 young people in the NYS
* enrolment of 5000 volunteers to act as mentors to vulnerable children
* expansion of the reach of our business support system to young people
* intensification of the Youth Cooperatives Programme
* close monitoring of the impact of our programmes on youth skills training and
business empowerment as an integral part of our national effort
f) Memorial Lectures- June 16, 1976, Lives On (08-11 June 2006)
In partnership with local municipalities, memorial lectures will be held
throughout South Africa to commemorate the heroic deeds of the 1976-generation.
Members of the Youth Commission and June 16 Foundation will be deployed to
various schools and centres of higher learning across the country.
The main memorial lecture will be addressed by President Thabo Mbeki at
Vista University, Soweto.
g) National Youth Service Housing Project
Working with the Ministry of Housing, the NYC will launch a National Youth
Service Housing project in the Western Cape on 12 June 2006. The initiative is
part of the R7million Youth in Housing project spearheaded by the Minister of
Housing, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu. The project seeks to encourage youth to participate
in community development whilst they are acquiring skills for sustainable
livelihoods.
h) The National Youth Service Expo showcasing the best youth service
initiatives (13-15 June 2006)
The State of the Nation Address 2006 pronounced that there will be a
recruitment of 10 000 young people into the NYS programme. As part of this
national mobilization to massify the NYS, the NYC has invited government
departments, state-owned enterprises, private sector companies and
non-governmental organisations to exhibit their initiatives designed to heed
this national call.
The NYS seeks to ensure that youth meaningfully participate in the national
development programme, acquire relevant skills, participate in activities to
realise the vision of nation-building and instil in them (youth) the sense of
patriotism.
i) National Youth Day Rally all roads to FNB Stadium (16 June 2006)
The National Youth Day programme will commence with the moment of silence
throughout the country at 09:00 which is the approximate time in which the
first victim of the June 16, 1976, Hector Zolile Peterson, was shot by the
security forces of the time.
A march will commence from the Morris Isaacson High school and proceed to
the Hector Peterson memorial for a wreath-laying ceremony.
President Thabo Mbeki will address a rally at the Soccer City Stadium (FNB)
immediately after the wreath-laying ceremony.
Mobilisation machinery developed by the NYC, the Department of Education,
the Gauteng Provincial Government, the City of Johannesburg, the Government
Communications and youth formations across the country has been put in place to
ensure maximum participation of South Africans, particularly youth in the
programme of the day.
j) 2006, the Year of Anniversaries in the struggle for Freedom
The youth mobilisation programme will be inextricably intertwined with the
commemoration and celebration of other anniversaries that characterise South
Africaâs struggles for the liberation of her people. These include the 10th
Anniversary of the adoption of the democratic Constitution, the 50th
Anniversary of the Womenâs anti-pass march to the Union Buildings in 1956, the
Centenary of the Bambata poll tax rebellion for free access to land and the
Centenary of the Satyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi.
k) Provincial and local initiatives critical for seamless integrated youth
development
The national programme will also have a series of activities led by PYCs and
local municipalities to deepen youth participation to fight poverty and
creation of jobs. The campaign comes after the Third Local Government elections
and the review of the IDPs. It will seek to ensure that PYCs are set up in
provinces where they do not exist and local youth officers are appointed to
drive youth development at local government level.
The success of the massification of the NYS strongly hinges on the
commitment local municipalities make towards youth development. The same
applies to the success of the broader youth development initiatives highlighted
in the AsGISA framework.
l) Youth Development beyond the Limpopo River
The campaign will also ensure that interaction with the youth of the African
continent continues to grow along the lines of the broader continental
development programme, the New Partnership for Africaâs Development (NEPAD).
The NYC, working with the South African Youth Council, the Pan African Youth
Union and the NEPAD Youth Desk will continue to ensure that the challenges
confronting the African youth are addressed.
Such challenges include, the need for relevant, accessible, affordable
quality education and training, creation of employment, globalisation and
migration, fighting poverty and hunger, promoting peace and security,
integration of youth into national decision-making and the question of the Girl
Child.
Enquiries:
Monde Mkalipi
Cell: 082 575 3976
Getrude Phiri
Cell: 082 3739 902
Fax: (012) 324 4759
Issued by: National Youth Commission
29 May 2006
