Minister in The Presidency, Collins Chabane welcomes all delegates to the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) which is taking place at the City of Tshwane from today, 13 to 21 December 2010.
The festival, which is hosted by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in partnership with the World Federation of Democratic Youth, is expected to be attended by thousands of international and domestic delegates from all nine provinces. Thus far over 100 countries amounting to over 3 000 delegates had began to arrive in South Africa in preparation for the festival.
Today, 13 December 2010 the Festival will begin with the opening ceremony to be addressed by President Jacob Zuma at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, Pretoria. On behalf of President Zuma, government and the people of South Africa we extend our warmest welcome to all delegates.
Thousands of young people attending the festival will have an opportunity to interact and discuss social, political and economic issues towards the development of young people. These will include right to employment, economic issues, environment and development; public, free and universal access to education, science, culture and information; Democratic rights, freedoms and human rights and the struggle for peace, sovereignty and solidarity against imperialism. The festival will begin with deliberations on Tuesday at the Tshwane Events Centre.
“This is a huge gathering of young people from all over the world to be hosted in our country and it provides a platform to deliberate over critical issues in an effort to find lasting solutions to many challenges facing young people across the world,” says Minister Collins Chabane.
Minister Chabane further called on all South Africans to be hospitable to our visitors as we did during the World Cup. He further extended an invitation to all young people to attend the festival as day delegates and wished all young people gathered in Pretoria a very successful conference.
Enquiries:
Harold Maloka
Cell: 082 847 9799
E-mail: harold@po.gov.za or Maloka.harold@gmail.com
