Programme director
Minister of Social Development
Minister of Mineral Resources
Trustees of the Goedgedacht
Directors of PPC Company
The youth
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I extend a special warm welcome to the representatives of the various government departments, the youth and our strategic partners for taking their time to be with us today when we hand over this magnificent Youth Centre in Riebeeck on this important day – Youth Day, 16 June.
In our country June has been declared a Youth Month because of its historical significance.
It must be remembered that on this day, 16 June 1976, South African youths in Soweto, Johannesburg braved bullets and demonstrated against the enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in their schools.
The response of the government of the time, the apartheid fixated National Party, was to open fire with live ammunition to our defenceless children, killing and maiming thousands of them in the most callous manner that would remain indelible in our memories.
Thousands others were killed throughout the country, whilst thousands more fled into neighbouring states to seek refuge.
The struggle song: Alawula kabuhlungu la mabhulu ekhaya, asidubulela abantwana abancane eSoweto, appropriately captured the events that marked saddest moment in the history of our country
However, it is necessary for us, as parents, not to offload our past experiences onto our children.
The youth today should reflect and use this day as a platform to advance themselves so as to achieve economic emancipation. Our country presently needs reconstruction and development.
Today, we have come here to celebrate the handover by the Goedgedacht Trust one of its ten youth centres which had been established to provide the children and the youth from Riebeeck West the opportunity to break the generational cycles of rural poverty through taking part in a range of activities which include educational support, school holiday programmes, youth life and leadership training, youth work preparedness training, a bicycle empowerment project, a victim empowerment project and many more.
The Path out of Poverty Programme (POP) began in 1998 in response to acute generational cycles of rural poverty of farm workers and their children. It began by setting up an Early Childhood Development programme and a youth group.
The handover of this Swartland Youth Centre to the people of Swartland here in Riebeeck is a culmination of 13 years of hard work by various parties, including the government, PPC and the local community.
The PPC cement company contributed R3,5 million in this project. We wish to thank PPC for this contribution. Once more working together, we can do more.
My department, Rural Development and Land Reform, has last year unveiled a new small scale Marshall Plan for the development of the rural areas through a youth programme called National Rural Youth Sector Corps (NARYSEC) to train the rural youths in various skills, including construction and self-discipline. The NARYSEC programme was recently launched by President Jacob Zuma at Dyselsdorp.
About 8 000 youths from eight provinces of our country have been enrolled in this programme where they are paid a daily stipend so they could financially assist their families while on this two-year training programme.
Ladies and gentlemen, we intend to take up 20 000 youths over the three –year meduim term expenditure framework (MTEF) period at a cost of R800 million.
When these youngsters, who range between 18 and 35 years of age across gender, have completed their two-years training they will be able to open their own companies and provide employment for their communities.
The government will assist them obtain employment and also monitor their progress after exit.
The department takes four youths from each of the about 3 000 of the rural wards of the country. One of these should be a disabled youth while two should be females.
This programme is part of the department’s contribution to job creation in rural areas and to fight endemic poverty in the countryside. The local youth should take advantage of this new facility to improve their lives. I urge the community to own and look after this facility because it is theirs.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Swartland Local Municipality, Minister of Department of Social Development, the Minister of Department of Mineral Resources and the PPC Company for their contribution to the successful establishment of this youth centre.
Thank you.
