Programme Director, Ms Lumka Oliphant,
Honourable Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula;
Acting Director-General, Mr Coceko Pakade,
CEO of SASSA, Ms Virginia Peterssen
Brigadier General, Mr Xolani Mabanga,
Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
Good morning to you all.
Thank you for joining us at this media briefing. As indicated to you on the invite, the purpose of this briefing is to give you an update on preparations for the upcoming national youth camp.
This is a joint initiative of various government departments such as the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, as highlighted earlier by Minister Mapisa-Nqakula. It is scheduled to be held from 2 to 7 December 2012, at Die Brug Military Camp, in the Free State province under the theme: “Youth Working Together in Diversity”.
It will bring together a total of 500 youth between the ages of 17 and 24 years. These young people represent 45 districts and different communities across South Africa. The majority of them are drawn mainly from local NGOs and youth development centres.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In preparation for the upcoming national youth camp, we conducted provincial youth dialogues, with specific focus on disadvantaged communities. A number of key issues have emerged from the dialogues.
While some of the issues were unique to particular areas, common areas of concern include:
- school dropout
- sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancy and intergenerational sex
- low self-esteem and peer pressure
- substance abuse
- child-headed households
- moral degeneration
- lack of positive role models
- lack of employment opportunities, including youth entrepreneurship
- As you all know, South Africa is among countries with the highest levels of youth unemployment rates in the world. As a result, unemployment was identified as a major concern, and our young people are anxious about their prospects of employment.
Our Government has youth development at the heart of its priorities. Given the foregoing concerns, the central goal of the national youth camp is to engage youth as active and reflective citizens of our country. It will provide a forum for joint reflection and dialogue among young people and policy makers.
By hosting this National youth camp, we wish to recognise, reaffirm and encourage youth‘s involvement in the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, especially the ones which affect them.
We believe that by taking into account the voice of young people in decision making and in the shaping of policies, more meaningful and sustainable solutions pertaining to challenges facing young people can be found.
The primary objective of the National youth camp is to:
- develop positive bonds amongst young people, promote tolerance, social inclusion and respect for diversity,
- promote young people’s civic engagement and encourage their contribution to their respective communities
- open up channels of participation for young people and involve them in the national discussion and debate about issues affecting them,
- identify, promote and celebrate youth-led initiatives such as youth clubs,
- hear from young people and seek their views on the difficulties young people from diverse backgrounds are experiencing;
The National youth camp builds on the concept of the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme, which aims to revitalise the spirit of youth activism and patriotism in our nation.
This is a flagship programme of the Department of Social Development that facilitates the recruitment, training and absorption of unemployed and out of school youth of South Africa.
The youth are recruited from and serve in their local communities. Through this programme we seek to address the challenges facing South Africa's youthful population by utilising them as development resources or agents of change.
This is part of our contribution to the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality identified by President Jacob Zuma in the State of the Nation Address early this year. This is also important in the context of the Integrated Youth Development Strategy and Plan (2012-2016), which identify youth development as an urgent priority.
Ladies and gentlemen,
South Africa is at a moment of unprecedented demographic opportunity.
According to Statistics South Africa's Census 2011 data, the estimated South African population is 51.8 million, of which 26. 6 million (51.3%) were female and 25. 1 million (48.7%) were male.
The Census data put the country's average age at 25, an indicator that South Africa, although getting slightly older compared to the two previous censuses, continues to have a youthful population. The average age according to the 1996 and 2001 census was 22 and 23 respectively. In addition, the data shows that over a third of the South African population is under the age of 15 years.
This demographic situation has resulted into the emergence of a “youth bulge”, which is expected to be in existence for the next decade. This in itself presents both opportunities and challenges for youth policy in our country, especially given the fact that youth unemployment continues to be a major developmental challenge for post-apartheid South Africa.
We therefore need to seize this moment of demographic transition to significantly broaden and deepen opportunities for young people to participate meaningfully in the life of our nation.
To do that, we must understand the needs and aspirations of this critical generation in order to tap into their ideas and energy. If not, the growing youth population can contribute to serious social challenges and civil unrests, as witnessed in other countries of the world.
A “youth bulge” can be a problem, especially if that growing generation of young people has very limited education and economic opportunities to make a decent living.
They could create more pressure for the provision of social, educational, health and other social services, especially if the youth demography is not properly integrated into national development plans at national, provincial and local levels.
There is therefore a strategic urgency on the part of our Government to put in place strategies and interventions to reap the benefits of the current demographic dividend by comprehensively addressing youth vulnerability.
The answer to this can be found in the essence of the National Youth Camp, which I believe will go a long way in entrenching youth development initiatives.
Given the fact that young people form the majority of our population, the National Youth Camp will also enable us to identify and nurture a new breed of leaders who are in touch with the needs of their communities, while also participating in initiatives that contribute to their own development.
This initiative will provide a safe space for young people from different communities to learn together, to share their experiences and to enhance their leadership skills.
The week-long programme will be guided by the Masuptsela Youth Pioneers accredited curriculum. It will also focus on other areas such as youth leadership, decision making, substance abuse, sexual and reproductive health issues and volunteerism, to name a few.
Various government departments and entities including the National Development Agency (NDA), Departments of Defence, Basic Education, as well as Higher Education will participate in the programme and present various packages on issues affecting youths.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We must work together to build an active and inclusive citizenship, especially among the most vulnerable groups of our society. This is critical if we are to build a new vision for our country as encapsulated in the National Development Plan (Vision 2030).
The National Development Plan sets out to ensure that all South Africans participate fully in efforts to liberate ourselves from conditions that undermine our country's development.
The National Youth Camp initiative can contribute to the achievement of the goals we set for ourselves in Vision 2030 because young people are strategically positioned to feed into that vision.
We hope that the deliberations of the National Youth Camp will enhance policy discourse and contribute to better policy options for mainstreaming youth development across all spheres of government.
It is our hope that through this initiative we will sow the seeds that will turn our South Africa into a more caring society.
I thank you.
