His Excellency Honourable President, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma
Honourable Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe
Honourable Minister for Performance Monitoring And Evaluation (PME), Collins Chabane
Chairperson Ms Chichi Maponya and Chief Executive of BrandSA, Mr Miller Matola
Chief Executive of NYDA, Mr Steven Ngubeni.
Honourable members
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
I am honoured to take the platform to contribute to the Presidency Budget Submission of the year 2012/13.
This budget submission comes on the backdrop of difficult economic conditions that should shape how we think, how we plan as well as how we should utilise our resources. Countries in the world continuously compete for investor’s attention by projecting stability, opportunities and a far-sighted and strategic leadership.
We therefore need to mobilise all social actors as we are a country not exonerated from social pressures due to some of the external factors; and continues to experience the triple-evils of poverty, unemployment and inequality, mostly affecting the youth of our country.
Prior to the dawn of democracy in South Africa, through the historic 27 April 1994 democratic break-through, issues of youth development were never really prioritised or institutionalised. As a result, the majority of the youth population are living with a tormenting fear of a bleak future. It is widely agreed that issues of youth development cannot be left mainly to civil society and youth organisations alone, but they should always find expression within government structures, the legislation, policies, strategies and programmes.
It is evident that the key factors that define the welfare of young people in our own country range from education, skills development, youth access to economic participation and access to job opportunities.
The youth of this country is no different from the rest in the world. Youth are continuously faced with challenges that include extreme poverty, lack or limited participation in activities that improve their well-being as young people. In addition they face gender inequality and marginalisation. We are also faced with the critical need to improve and broaden access to quality education, as well as to create decent employment opportunities for our young generation.
We are also deeply concerned about the rise in unemployment and underemployment in Africa, particularly among the youth and the serious threat they pose to social cohesion, political stability and the future socio economic development prospects in our various countries;
The United Nations has resolved in 2011 that there is a need to foster co-operation among young people and educate them about the ideals of peace, freedom, justice, tolerance, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, patriotism, solidarity and dedication to the objectives of “progress and development”.
The late former President of Mozambique, Samora Machel is quoted as having said that “Youth is the best time to be Rich, the best time to be Poor”. Nothing closer to the truth. According to African Youth Report of 2012, trends in the African youth population will generally remain higher than in other world regions by 2025, and this youth bulge needs new strategies, new investments on youth, new ways of looking at the matter and finally it needs innovative responses by the African Leadership.
It is imperative, therefore, to realise that investing in African youth not only has implications for social and economic development, but also puts into focus the urgent need for a critical understanding of “evolving opportunities and challenges” that young people face in the world today.
The large youth population in Africa should be seen as an asset for the continent’s development if appropriate human capital investment measures are taken. South Africa has an opportunity to provide leadership in this regard, to ensure opportunities are abundant.
President and Deputy President,
In South Africa young people constitute the majority of the unemployed with no less that 70% remaining job seekers. According to the National Treasury strategy document on “Confronting Youth Development”, unemployed people tend to be less skilled and inexperienced with almost 80% having no formal, further or tertiary education, while two thirds have never worked. This gives a view of the urgency of the need to attend to the youth unemployment challenge.
It would however be ill-conceived to seek to suggest that nothing is being done - South Africa as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have demonstrated great commitment towards the advancement of the youth development agenda. This is also confirmed by us as a country with the establishment of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) through an Act of Parliament, Act no. 58 of 2008.
Following the advent of democracy in 1994, the new democratic government declared June 16 a national holiday, seen as the youth month, in honour of the contribution of the youth in the struggle for the liberation of South Africa.
In June of 2012 the country will celebrate and honour the martyrs of the 1976 generation not as a meaningless ceremony but a tribute and a reflection of how far we have gone in realising the ideals of this gallant generation.
While the youth of 1976 fought for freedom and the creation of a democratic state, today’s youth activism is directed towards successful tackling of the challenges of combating poverty, unemployment, HIV and AIDS, personal development, economic freedom and the development of their country amongst others.
This is encapsulated in the mandate of the NYDA whose responsibility, among others, is to initiate, design, coordinate, evaluate & monitor programmes aimed at integrating the youth into the economy and the society in general.
Since its establishment, the NYDA has worked to build a world class youth development agency that adheres to good corporate governance principles. As a result, the NYDA has received an unqualified audit report in two consecutive years, from the Auditor General, something that other departments are still struggling to achieve. We also pay tribute and convey our appreciation to the first NYDA Board of Directors whose term has ended.
These are the men and women, who laid the foundation for what we now call NYDA.
In three years of the NYDA’s their delivery record has been improving significantly leading to the organisation achieving 42 out of the 49 key performance indicators in the 2010/11 financial year thus scoring an 85% achievement. Of the 42 targets met, some were greatly exceeded and the seven that were not met were behind with only a few points.
- NYDA has a national ‘footprint, existing in all provinces, and municipalities, though not all.
- NYDA has Supported 5 277 young entrepreneurs with business development consultancy services vouchers and provided 49 341 young people with entrepreneurship training over the past two financial years.
- Over R60,4 million worth of loans were disbursed to young entrepreneurs.
- Ithubalentsha Micro Enterprise Programme, started recently this year in February, to prepare an entrepreneur with skills to run business before they can loan/grant you money to capitalise or start their business.
- Education and Skills Development programme, NYDA has enrolled 2,039 learners on the matric rewrite project,
- Provided career guidance and job preparedness training to over 446,588 and 17, 258 young people respectively.
- The National Youth Service Programme (NYS), over the past two years 84,205 young people were enrolled and participated in the NYS programme to serve their communities, 1 000 volunteers responded to the Duduza Tornado Relief effort.
Some major priorities and programmes for 2012/13 financial year:
- As part of Economic Participation programme; The NYDA will implement 8 key programmes and two special programmes aimed at improving economic participation of the youth. 20,000 young entrepreneurs will be given technical and business support,
- R30 million worth of funding accessed through Economic Development Programmes, with the creation of 800 jobs.
In addition, the following special programmes will be implemented:
- Ithubalentsha programme - The overall objective of the programme is to scale up access of quality sustainable enterprise development products and services.
- The Green Economy Project – It will provide a platform for youth to participate in safeguarding the environment upon which development is dependant.
- Education and Skills Development - It aims to build technical, business and life–skills for youth, steering young people towards choosing careers that are in demand by the labour market. It also aims to improve young people’s matriculation results.
Speaker,
A question will rise, on what have we achieved since the merging of the Youth Commission and Umsobomvu? The two organisations used to get a combined budget of R1.1 billion per financial year, e.g. Youth Commission was receiving R600 million and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund was getting R500 million. However when the two were merged, the funding allocation was reduced to 2010/2011 was R386 million and 2012/2013 is R76 million, reducing it further by R10 million and with this little resources.
Lastly the NYDA will ensure that funds are raised, geared towards supporting the implementation of NYDA activities: R50 million worth of funds will be raised through National Youth Fund.
Brand South Africa
The country’ success in mobilising necessary resources, investment and partners is also dependent upon the national posture and image we desire to project, preserve and improve.
This mammoth task was given as mandate of Brand SA who are expected ‘to build South Africa’s nation brand reputation and to contribute to the improvement of the country’s global competitiveness’. In discharging this mandate, Brand SA focuses on both domestic and international initiatives aimed at marketing South Africa to international and domestic target audiences.
Over the past year Brand SA has focused on adding to their focus towards positioning and profiling South Africa as an attractive business destination; as well as the marketing of the country to South Africans to build social cohesion and garner support for the nation branding project.
Brand SA’s vision for South Africa is to be acknowledged as a top 20 nation brand in terms of brand reputation and global competitiveness respectively.
Brand SA’s domestic strategic focus is to mobilise active citizenry through its innovative “Play Your Part” campaign. This mass mobilisation campaign is aimed at engaging and motivating all South Africans on an individual and collective basis e.g. business, civil society. media and government to hold hands and contribute towards positive social change in the country. The first phase of the campaign included a 13 part TV series on SABC 1, during the period October to December 2011, showcasing ordinary South Africans performing extraordinary things.
Through an intense process of consultation and research, Brand SA managed to develop a new pay off line - "Inspiring New Ways". This is to ensure that the country remains relevant and competitive in this dynamic global environment. This new pay off line carries a message of who we are and what we stand for as South Africans.
The Brand SA research programme has positioned South Africa as a “key thought leader” on the continent in terms of nation branding and reputation management. Brand SA’s international strategic focus is to positively influence and shape perceptions about South Africa as a key business destination and play a leadership role amongst target audiences.
As a proudly African country, SA is committed to working closely with our African peers to develop new ways to achieve sustainable economic growth and development. In this context, over the past year, there was a shift in focus to supporting initiatives on the continent which are consistent with driving our African Agenda. For example; support for trade initiatives and state visits to amongst others the following countries: Congo, Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique.
A core approach of Brand SA is to work with business, civil society and government partners to leverage the limited resources it has, to market South Africa. This is evidenced through partnership agreements implemented with various partners such as CNN, TNA, TIME, Media Diversity and Development Agency (MDDA), FT and SAFM. The total value of these partnerships was in excess of R5 million.
Brand SA continued to manage a highly effective social media platform South Africa.info as well as a highly successful mediaclub.co.za portal; which is used by media as a source of information in the publication of their own content.
The overall reputation of the country improved significantly over the period under review:
- The nation brand index showing an improvement of place, year on year. The competitiveness index showed an improvement of four places; from 54th in 2010 to 50th in 2012.
- Our country’s reputation and image shows a marked improvement in associations of the country with business and investment attractiveness. Improvements were realised in countries which previously ranked South Africa low; such as Japan and South Korea.
Major projects and campaigns planned for 2012/13
For the 2012/13 financial year, Brand SA will continue to focus its strategy on the proactive marketing of South Africa as a business destination of choice; and to contribute towards social cohesion through its active citizenship campaign. South Africans will be mobilised behind the country’s efforts to be a competitive nation; to address the developmental challenges.
Some of the key initiatives to be focused upon in 2012/13 will include:
Brand SA will continue with its programme of leveraging international platforms to drive the message about South Africa and ensure that the country remains competitive. This will include the alignment of our brand throughout all Embassies and government departments and working with the Department of Trade and Industry to implement programmes targeted at a number of peer markets such as Turkey, Chile, Vietnam, Indonesia Japan and Thailand.
In conclusion, the responsibility placed on the NYDA and Brand SA requires appropriate recourses and institutions to assist in preparing this country for a vibrant, innovative and constructive economy.
I thank you for your support.
