Programme director
The Mayor of eThekwini municipality, Councillor Obed Mlaba
Project director for Future Leaders, Ms Zanele Mbokazi
Leaders of various civic formations and business establishments
Representatives of youth organisations
Members of the media present
Ladies and gentlemen
I wish to start by declaring my sincere thanks to the organisers of this important gathering, which is aimed at harnessing the potential of young people and deliberating on how to get our future leaders into the mainstream of our economy whilst nurturing their diverse talents towards becoming productive and responsible citizens.
It's also worth acknowledging that this convergence comes at the time when our country is gripped by the 2010 FIFA World Cup euphoria. It is now a matter of days before the President of the Republic; Mr JG Zuma declares the tournament officially opened.
Each member of this great nation is excitedly waiting for this indescribable phenomenal experience. We have all adjusted our routine life styles to accommodate this global soccer thriller which is being held for the first time on the African continent.
Interestingly, the event coincides with one of the most important periods in our national calendar, the Youth Month, let alone the fact that number 11 seems to permeate most of the aspects of this competition.
The game for eleven players played from 11 June to 11 July 2010 and to be broadcast on all our 11 languages through the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). However, the positive spin-offs of this tournament hinge on it being fully embraced by the youth as they have the capacity to make or break any form of engagement the nation has decided on.
The world cup fever has been preceded by massive investments in the construction of catalytic development infrastructure featuring new stadiums, accommodation and leisure facilities and as well as the upgrading of transport networks including the building of the new King Shaka International Airport on the north of this city.
The latter is undoubtedly the jewel on the crown of our province and is expected to position the province as a credible investment and tourist destination. These are multibillion rand projects that saw cranes flying high despite the jittery economic outlook that devastated even the most established economies.
Like the oasis in the middle of a harsh desert, these projects represented hope for a better life for all hence we should be proud of our collective efforts. It’s time to prove to the world that our claim of being a nation endowed with exceptional passion and endurance to face up to formidable challenges was no gimmick.
Young people are expected to be at the centre of this national project since the success of the world cup will be the legacy that it will leave to our people.
It's my belief that when you met during this annual function in the past few years you deliberated on the prospect of 2010 FIFA World Cup unleashing business opportunities to be snatched to accelerate youth economic empowerment.
We therefore believe that the theme of this year's gathering: "We will make South Africa Proud-2010 through the Eyes of the Youth", is indicative of general sentiments shared by young people acknowledging the importance of this world cup towards consolidating the nation building agenda.
It's therefore essential that the tournament doesn't pass without young people counting on how many entrepreneurial opportunities they had seized instead of constraining themselves to just spectators swelling the stadiums, fan parks and public viewing areas.
Programme director, our government is painfully aware of the fact that the vestiges of apartheid are still prohibiting many of our young people from grabbing socio-economic opportunities presented by this democratic dispensation.
We have therefore put skills development at the summit of our list of priorities. We are delighted that the concept of future leaders, is based on this fundamental objective of empowering the youth with requisite skills to partake meaningfully in the country's economy.
Skills training have been at the core of youth empowerment and last year, the department, in collaboration with other private sector partners helped train more than 3 200 youth to ensure they contribute to the province's growth in various economic sectors. And we are pleased to report that around 80 percent have since been absorbed into the labour market.
However, we are aware that more young people are swelling the unemployment ranks. Lack of jobs becomes a social threat to our young democracy as it exposes them to potential criminality and substance abuse.
To counter this, government continues to devise new strategies and improve on existing means to draw more young people to the economy. These include experiential attachment to government departments through internship which is gradually making a noticeable dent on the levels of unemployment amongst the youth.
But our long term objective is to instil an entrepreneurial spirit amongst young people to ensure that when they leave schools and tertiary institutions they are equipped to opt for starting their own enterprises than looking for employment elsewhere.
This will be achieved through reasonable investment in vocational and management oriented skills training. Sadly, the apartheid system has meant that the majority of our people were condemned to inferior education that didn’t promote industry based skills development especially amongst black communities.
It's therefore crucial that all youth formations, including the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), KwaZulu-Natal Youth Chamber of Commerce and Future Leaders do join forces with government towards empowering young people.
The KwaZulu-Natal youth economic empowerment strategy, which is due for review in the next financial year, sets the tone for an integrated and holistic development of youthful entrepreneurs.
The country can only compete effectively in the highly deregulated global market if its future leaders possess appropriate skills. Compared to other nationalities that had been exposed to good education and various opportunities, the South African youth has to work even harder to reach the pinnacle of their potential.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I want to implore our youth to lead in terms of welcoming and caring for our visitors that will be flocking to our country to witness the magical football tournament under the African skies.
As you all know, ours is a people with a big heart and the concept of Ubuntu has always been at the centre of everything we do as a people. This is what we need to show to all the foreign visitors who will flock into our country. If we do this, this will be reciprocated with direct investments which will create jobs and business opportunities for young people.
Let us be the tourist buddies for each and every visitor that will be attending the world cup festivities. We should be the advocates of superior service to all our visitors so that when returning to their respective countries, they will become ambassadors of this lovely province.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
28 May 2010
