Honourable Jeff Radebe, at the Youth Day commemoration and 30th anniversary of
the June 16 Soweto and Connected Uprisings, Popo Molefe Soccer Stadium,
Merafong Local Municipality
16 June 2006
Programme Director and North West Provincial Commissioner, Ms Connie
Modiba
North West Premier, Mme Edna Molewa
MECs and Members of the Provincial Legislature present
North West Provincial Youth Commission Chairperson, Mr Kabelo Mataboge and
Provincial Youth Commissioners
The Executive Mayor of the Merafong Local Municipality, Cllr Desmond van
Rooyen
District Mayors, Mayors and Speakers of Municipalities present
Our Honoured Traditional Leaders
Leaders of our Faith-Based Organisations, Organised Business and Labour
Members of our Law Enforcement Agencies
Members of the Media
Young People of the North West Province
Ba Gaetsho Dumelang!
It is an extreme honour and privilege to be given an opportunity to speak to
all of you my young friends and peers in the province, the youth, on this
watershed 30th anniversary of the June 16 Soweto and Connected Uprisings, whose
appropriate theme is âAge of Hope: Deepening Youth Participation in
Developmentâ.
On this memorable historical day, as we have done over the years since the
advent of our democracy, we salute and remember all those who suffered and
perished in the struggle that young people across the country embarked upon
against apartheid and its most visible symbol then, the imposition of Afrikaans
as a medium of instruction in black schools in 1976.
Today, as we have done over the years, we dip our collective banners in
honour of all those young men and women, including Hector Peterson, Tsietsi
Mashinini and Mbuyisa Makhubu and many others, who paid the ultimate price so
that you and I, the youth of today are able to enjoy the fruits of liberation
and democracy.
On this important day, we also reaffirm our commitment to developing the
youth of our province and our country to its full potential, in the firm belief
that they hold the future of our young democracy, our young nation and our
growing economy in their hands.
At the same time as we commemorate this important day today, many of our
young peopleâs imagination is captivated by the phenomenal spectre of the
stars, the sheer talent and skills being displayed at the 2006 FIFA Soccer
World Cup in Germany over the coming weeks.
In all our townships, dorps and villages thousands of mothers and fathers
are hoping that come 2010 their sons will become the next Ronaldinho of Brazil,
the next Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast, Lionel Messi of Argentina, Essien and
Appia of Ghana, Wayne Rooney of England, Mantorras of Angola or Michael Ballack
of the host nation Germany.
However, one thing certain about this yearâs World Cup in Germany is the
abundance of young talent during this worldâs most spectacular soccer
showpiece. This means, among other things, that there will even be a greater
need for young talent from our own communities as we proudly host this next
international football competition in our own country in 2010. Are you thirsty
to show the world this talent? I think you are!
More than that, I am convinced that the youth of today deserve the biggest
chunk of development that will be as a result of our hosting the 2010 FIFA
World Cup.
Programme Director, the youth of this province are about infinitely more
than just fun. They are a complex, vibrant and ambitious sector of our society
whose aspirations differ from those of the youth of 1976 and yet are driven by
the same passion that drove the youth of 76.
In the first place, we are fortunate that to be young today means we are
free to choose certain lifestyles over others, to move freely across the length
and breadth of our country and abroad, to belong to any organisation or
movement that fits our ideology, we have a right to vote and determine who our
public representatives should be, we are growing up in a milieu that offers
more opportunities for young people than anytime in the history of our
country.
In other words, since 1994, millions of our young people across South Africa
have benefited from the many changes brought about by democracy: the right to
vote, freedom of speech, improved access to housing, quality education,
electricity, water and sanitation; opportunities in the professions, sports,
arts and culture, as well as from the growing interaction with the continent of
Africa and the wider world.
In addition, we are growing up in the context of a rapidly globalising
world, one of whose prominent features is scientific advancement as seen, among
others, in the sphere of technology, the global culture, the internet and the
satellite. These are some of the advances in human development that the youth
of today have an opportunity to take advantage of.
But, as all of us know, such freedom, democracy and advances come with
certain responsibilities and challenges, and it is to such challenges facing
our youth that I would now like to turn.
As the youth of today we have a responsibility to establish, protect and
strengthen the democracy that was won at the back of the 1976 uprisings.
We have an obligation to continue to build and promote a culture of human
rights where human dignity, equality and respect for our elderly, the women and
our children are our defining characteristics as a nation.
It is the responsibility of todayâs youth to tackle successfully and with
the revolutionary fervour of 1976, the challenges of violence and abuse of
women as well as the moral regeneration of our society.
As young people of the province, it also falls on our collective shoulders
to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment, as well as combat the HIV and AIDS
pandemic.
In the same way that the youth of 1976 demonstrated to the world that they
wanted to define for themselves their future, the youth of today must
collectively be in the forefront of the battle against poverty, unemployment,
underdevelopment and HIV and AIDS.
There can be no better way of honouring all those who lost their lives and
limbs in the struggle for equality education and democracy than rededicating
ourselves to promoting and deepening the involvement of young people in all
aspects of development.
As the whole nation takes stock of progress in the development of young
people since the advent of democracy, our Government will intensify its
Vukâuzenzele programme through volunteer work and community service by our
young people.
During this year, the national government will set up 100 new youth advisory
centres across the country to enrol at least 10 000 young people in the
National Youth Service Programme.
Government will enrol 5 000 young volunteers to act as mentors to vulnerable
children across the country. Our Government will expand the reach of the
business support system to young people and intensify the Provincial Youth
Co-operatives Programme as well as, in line with the National Youth Development
Programme, complete the review of youth development institutions in order to
improve service delivery to young people.
With the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africaâs
(AsgiSA) focus on the expansion of the small, medium and micro enterprise
sector and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), young people of this
province will be in a position to participate in fulfilling these AsgiSA
objectives.
Across the country and the North West Province, Governmentâs micro-credit
programmes continue to enable young people to access financial assistance
through the Apex Fund and Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) and to set up business
enterprises. I am certain that some of the successful young business people are
celebrating with us today.
Efforts to facilitate more placement in companies of unemployed young people
with skills on the UYF database will continue this year and beyond.
Government will continue to place high emphasis on youth skills development
in priority sectors. In particular, we will increase the number of schools
participating in the Dinaledi Programme to improve graduate output in
Mathematics and Science learners to enable them to follow careers in the
priority sectors of our economy.
Finally, our Expanded Public Works Programme will continue to provide skills
development among young people so that they move away from the Second Economy
and are less and less drawn to a life of crime and indolence.
Thirty years after the 1976 uprisings, we salute the contribution of young
people to the development of our country:
* as workers, students, professionals, entrepreneurs, musicians, poets,
fashion designers, sportspersons and activists in other areas of
endeavour
* as part of the officer corps and other ranks of our security agencies,
including those deployed in other parts of the continent to assist in bringing
peace and creating conditions for development
* as public servants in various capacities, providing services to society
* as young women and young men taking advantage of the opportunities offered by
democracy and contributing to the development of our country.
And indeed, we salute the contribution of young people as future leaders of
our province and our country in all areas of activity.
As we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the 1976 uprisings this year, we
also recall the struggles of many sectors that brought our democracy including
the 1956 Womenâs March to the Union Buildings, the 1946 Mineworkersâ Strike and
the Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906.
As we pay tribute to young people across the nation, we will continue to
look for leadership and guidance from the youth as we steer our South African
ship into the waters of democracy, growth, development and prosperity.
Like the youth of 1976, todayâs youth will never fail in its mission to
strengthen and protect our democracy, to promote Human Rights, to eradicate
poverty and underdevelopment, to combat HIV and AIDS and fight violence against
women and children.
With these words of one of Africaâs freedom fighters and revolutionary, Amil
Cabral: âTell no Lies. Claim no Easy Victories!â I wish all young people of the
North West Province and indeed the whole of South Africa a HAPPY 30TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE JUNE 16 AND CONNECTED UPRISINGS!
Forward to deepening our Youth Participation in Development!
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Transport
16 June 2006
