addresses youth on the occasion of the commemoration of 30th Anniversary of
June 16, Cape Town University, Cape Town
16 June 2006
Salutations
Throughout our history we have experienced revolutions which would come,
shake the establishment and produces a different world-order. In modern history
the English were the first ones in the seventeenth century to chop-off the head
of
King Charles and effectively weakened the stronghold of the monarch. The
Americans and the French followed in later centuries and both the old and the
new worlds would never be the same, instead basis had been laid for the
international relations as we understand them today.
In South Africa the expansion of the colonial territorial borders and the
subsequent wars of resistance planted the seeds of African unity and created
heroes whose deeds and memories became catalysts of change in the unfolding of
the modern South African history. Notably leaders such as Auchumato,
Hintsa,
Makana, Shaka, Cetshwayo, Moshoeshoe, Mzilikazi, Sekhukhune and Magoba, to name
a few, became legends whose heroic prowess would manifest themselves in the
turbulent 1950âs through to 1990âs as successive generations of freedom
fighters sacrificed everything to overthrow colonialism and apartheid.
The Youth of 1976, realising that the oppressive apartheid regime had sealed
shut all avenues of peaceful negotiations for the harmonious co-existence of
various peoples, threw caution to the wind and gave up their studies, education
and lives to destabilise one of the worst systems of government in human
history.
The South African white minority apartheid regime would never recover from
the effects of 1976 and their aftermaths. Asked if he thought he had the might
and the capacity to overthrow the Czar Regime of pre-revolutionary Russia,
Lenin was quoted as having replied thus:
âThe regime is like a rotten wall, and just one kick, it will collapseâ. So it
became with the apartheid South Africa.
As much as the twentieth century saw the rise of youth power, the
twenty-first century yearns for the consolidation of that power so that our
youth, imbued with vigour and ambition, could lead the new wave of revolution
this time to reconstruct, develop and sustain the new way of life.
In many ways the year 1994 was a cultural rupture. The period completely
reorganised the social, political, moral and economic outlook of South Africa
and trusted the country and its people into a global whirlwind. The opening
world meant that the country should seize opportunities for new developments
meanwhile still battling backlogs and other bottlenecks created by poor social
planning and inequitable financial allocations of apartheid.
Today 12 years into a democracy, South Africa stands on the edge of hope and
prosperity, yet many of our youth continue to be part of the challenge, instead
of the solution. Many fighting spirits had been substituted by despair, and
despite the gains of our freedom, many of our youth remain shackled and unable
to contribute to the development and transformation agendas of the
country.
My call to the youth today is to take the first step, i.e., make the first move
to break the circle of despair. Government has put in place programmes designed
among others to benefit the youth. Chief among those are the Umsobomvu Youth
Fund, the Expanded Public Works Programme and the National Youth
Commission.
Umsobomvu Youth Fund is a government agency established in January 2001 to
create a platform for skills development and job creation for South African
Youth. Part of their activities includes providing information for the youth
concerning business careers, training, community development and health issues.
They have sub-programmes such as providing learning and new skills, career
planning, training, life skills and graduate placements. This is an initiative
that requires business acumen coupled with fierce risk taking in order to make
our youth the apprentices for future entrepreneurship and job-creators. The
Information Resource Centre at the Imbizo Media Centre at 120 Plein
Street,
Cape Town will have the literature and contact details for the above
programme.
On the other hand, the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has as its goal,
the creation of one million job opportunities and concomitant development of
skills by 2009. The EPWP is one of many interventions by government to
eradicate poverty by using government resources to encourage the employment of
labour-intensive methods and other technologies in the procurement of goods and
services. The successful implementation of the EPWP will not only create jobs
and develop skills.
Its legacy will also be manifested in the improved delivery of essential
services which are critical to the betterment of peopleâs lives. By the
beginning of 2006, the EPWP had created more than 300 000 job opportunities
since its inception in May 2004. The Economic Sector of the programme had more
youth opportunities, with 50% of those going to youth, followed by the
Environmental sector at 43%, the Infrastructure sector at 36% and lastly the
Social sector at 23%.
It is important to note that the EPWPâs Economic Sector, which aims to
assist at least 3000 sustainable businesses by 2009, is the engine power
providing economic growth because the emphasis is on training youth to become
job-givers instead of job-seekers. Through its venture learnership programme,
the Economic Sector has implemented a total of 170 learnerships mainly in
Limpopo and Eastern Cape. The learnership programme runs for a maximum of 24
months and comprises both classroom and practical components with the former
emphasising business and management skills while the latter consists of
contracts that are awarded to learners for successful execution with the
assistance of mentors appointed solely for that purpose.
In the infrastructure sector, the Vukuphile Contractor Learnership programme
is also showing signs of early success with more that 2 100 leanerships already
implemented with the help of the Construction Sectoral Education and Training
Authorities (Seta) and the Department of Labour. At the end of their
Learnerships, the contractors and their supervisors graduate with a National
Qualification Framework-registered qualification and an experience and
expertise which enable graduates to successfully tender for the
labour-intensive projects commissioned by the provinces and municipalities, on
ongoing basis.
By no means the least important, the Social Sector has been identified by
the Cabinet as having potential to create additional sustainable job
opportunities.
The harmonisation of the Home and Community Based Care Workers has been
finalised by the Departments of Health and Social Department and the learning /
materials have been published. Both the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the
Department of Health are funding this programme which forms part of the
National Youth Service piloted in conjunction with the National Youth
Commission. More than 600 youths are expected to benefit from this initiative
which is already underway in the provinces of Limpopo, Free State, and
the
Western Cape.
Talking about the National Youth Commission, they have published a programme
of events and other activities as part of the 30th anniversary and the
commemoration of the Soweto uprisings. Under the title: Age of Hope, Deepening
Youth Participation in Development, the National Youth Commission has
identified, among others, the need to review the National Youth Policy as
endorsed by Cabinet in November 2005. A proposed National Youth Policy Review
Convention will âintricately assess the impact of youth development initiatives
and institutions on the lives of young South Africansâ.
The convention, we are told, will also propose the merger of the functions
of the National Youth Commission and Umsobomvu Youth Fund to form a Youth
Development Agency. Continuing with the programme of activities, the
National
Youth Commission will also look at the role of youth in the contexts of
both
Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA) as well as New
Partnership for Africaâs Development (NEPAD). AsgiSA has identified Arts and
Culture industry as one of those with potential to expand and create more
opportunities for development and growth.
The role of our youth in Arts and Culture in general but music industry in
particular, is well documented. Our challenge is to encourage more and more
Sean Puff Daddys i.e. young musicians who cannot only sing but can be groomed
to become producers, managers and entrepreneurs. Artists like Arthur Mafokate,
Tshepho Nzimande and Joe Nina have already shown that the will and the
potential are there. We need to institutionalise these through the creation of
Arts, Sports and Cultural Academies that will also have a strong academic
component, to see to it that our pop stars and other idols grow to become not
only accomplished artists and performers but successful business people as
well. The husband and wife team of Zam and Nkhensani of Mojo fame on SABC 1 is
another encouraging case study. The list is endless and can be made to focus on
sport, stage, film in fact on the entire entertainment industry.
The struggle of our youth and the efforts of our government to make
necessary interventions is not an isolated phenomenon. Internationally
countries and other organisations are at work to ensure sustainable leadership
succession by looking at creating ways to mould the youth for their concrete
participation and contribution to the society. The World Youth Foundation is an
international nongovernmental organisation which was launched in 1994 to
promote research, development and documentation of youth programmes beneficial
to youths worldwide. Based in Malaysia, the Foundation provides a platform for
the interchange of ideas among youth organisations internationally and has had
seminars organised focusing on areas such as population development, HIV/Aids,
human rights, education, environment, globalisation and many other topics. They
are supported by government but works in conjunction also with other
international agencies and world organizations, including the United
Nations.
Perhaps it would also be highly recommendable to the National Youth
Commission to look at ways to reach out and engage with similar institutions,
particularly those whose stated objective is to further the educational,
cultural, and socio economic development of youth at national and international
level.
In conclusion, let me share with you two or three excerpts taken from the
book entitled: Our time is now: Young people changing the world. The book tells
stories of more than thirty young people in over twenty countries including
African Countries who are taking action to contribute to their local and global
communities. There are young people from Kenya and Nigeria who are taking
action in the fight against HIV/Aids.
One Afganistani young woman, a 25 year old Sadiqa Basiri, upon realising
high levels of illiteracy among girls and women in her country, has established
four schools that are teaching nearly 1100 girls to read and write for the
first time. The other is Muhamed Mesic from Bosnia Herzegovina who after having
realised the destruction brought by armed conflict in his country, has, at the
age of 20, being elected into the City Council at his hometown of Tuzla. Asked
why he chose politics, his answer was: âAs youth we are raising our hands to
fight the enemies of the futureâ and these he identified as poverty, hatred,
violence and ethnic intolerance.
Let us take a leaf from these examples and mobilise ourselves to plan a
meaningful role in our lives and the life of our nation.
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Public Works
16 June 2006
Source: Department of Public Works (http://www.publicworks.gov.za)
