Ladies and gentlemen from the media, welcome to our second media briefing on the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students. We started the conference on Monday 13 December and today we are happy to say that we have made remarkable progress and improvement from where we were at the beginning. We had challenges but it did not take long before we resolved most of them and got the programme to run smoothly with little or no interruption.
I can confirm that we have been having a very good festival thus far; seminars have been taking place as planned, discussions have been robust, delegate numbers have increased. Today as we enter day seven of the festival we are more convinced than we ever could that our strength as a people lies in our unity through diversity, be it racial, cultural or religious. Hosting the 17th WFYS in our own country has reinforced our long held position that, informed by our own history of years of struggle for liberation, we attach great honour to solidarity with the people of the continent and the rest of the world.
This, because of the role played by neighboring countries and those further to our borders at the time in which we were in need of support, solidarity, social transformation, to bring about lasting peace in our own country. It has not been an easy task but we continue to feed the delegates daily, we still transport them from their accommodation to the Tshwane Events Centre, and we handle all issues related to managing an event of this magnitude.
We also need to highlight some of the key components of the festival. These are the exhibition, the friendship fanfare, and sporting and cultural activities. These activities have helped in building social cohesion and harmony, and they have also created a conducive environment for the exchange of information and ideas among the youth. We continue to see increased volumes in the number of people visiting the exhibition stalls and friendship fare, learning about other countries and we encourage that interest.
Sharing experiences with the rest of the world, including countries like Western Sahara, the remaining colonised country in the African continent, reminds us that living in a democratic country has not taken our attention from other universal challenges that continue to confront other people of the world. We have also witnessed a situation wherein delegates from countries that are in conflict with each other in global politics, were playing a game of soccer together in peace at the youth festival. We have also seen delegates promoting their countries at the exhibitions.
We are very happy that the youth festival has strengthened relations among the youth from around the world. We remain convinced that through our own ongoing struggle for social transformation there is a lot that we can benefit from the rest of the world and equally there is a lot that we have to offer. It is important to note that over a period of four days delegates have been going on a series of tours to some of the sites that tell the struggles that South Africans have gone through in the fight against apartheid.
Delegates have been to Sharpeville, the scene of that unforgettable massacre, they have visited well-known sites in Soweto,they have also gone to Ekurhuleni where they went to Comrade Chris Hani's grave side. In Tshwane the delegates visited Union Buildings and Church Square. Hundreds of international delegates have been part of these tours and this is, indeed, good for tourism.
One of the key features of the Festival today is the Anti-Imperialist Court, which is presiding over matters of imperialism against countries. In the court, countries lodge cases of imperialism against each other in a situation where one feels aggrieved by the actions of another. Today at the Court tensions were high between delegates from Morocco and Western Sahara. This shows how important this issue is and how crucial it is for the international community to pay attention to the ongoing conflict in the area. Measures have been taken to ensure that these tensions remain non-violent, promote peace and social transformation.
We call on the media to engage with the issues being deliberated in the seminars and reflect on the seeds being planted by this festival towards a world in unity, solidarity and peace; a glaring minority has undertaken this more challenging task of sitting through the seminars to capture the essence of the debates and discussions taking place there. One of the seminars is on 'access to and production of culture', an issue relevant to South Africans as we strive to build a united South Africa; borne of our different backgrounds. Another session focuses another huge world challenge; "The Land issue: Hunger and Food Sovereignty."
Let me take this opportunity to tell you about what is happening on Tuesday, the last day of the festival. There will be a March for Peace from Church Square to the Unions Buildings from 9 o'clock where all the delegates and other young people will deliver the resolutions of the World Festival of Youth and Students to the South African government. This will be an important gathering for us as we officially bring the festival to its conclusion. We invite you to be part of this momentous occasion.
Thank you.
For enquiries contact:
Siyabonga Magadla
E-mail: smagadla@nyda.gov.za
Cell: 083 686 9016
Gugu Mjadu
E-mail: gmjadu@nyda.gov.za
Cell: 073 263 0973
Source: Sapa
