The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Gugile Nkwinti,
Ministers, MECs and Senior Officials,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning, it is wonderful to join you in this beautiful part of the country.

During the reply to 2010 State of the Nation address I dedicated the bulk of my speech to youth development. 

This was deliberate and appropriate, given that about half of all South Africans are under the age of 25 years. 

I reiterate today that everything we do must answer to the needs of our children and those of the youth given the youthfulness of our population.

In this year’s State of the Nation Address, I referred to the government’s National Rural Youth Service Corps programme. It is a great pleasure to launch this programme here today.

We decided to launch the project here in Dysselsdorp because of the high rate of unemployment and poverty in this municipality. It is now a Comprehensive Rural Development Programme site.

Rural Development is one of the five key priorities of government, with others being the creation of decent work, education, fight against crime and corruption and health.

It is no coincidence that the youth in rural areas have been invited to participate in building the foundation for sustainable socio-economic development in rural areas.

Socio-economic development in rural communities – with the youth being at the centre of such developments – underpins the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s strategy to develop rural areas.

It forms part of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme of government.

The strategy emphasises job creation to meet basic human needs, entrepreneurial development and the emergence of enterprises. 

A total of eight thousand young people around the country have been recruited to participate in the National Rural Youth Service Corps.

The Department recruits from rural communities, participants, aged between 18 and 35 years of age with Grade 10 or higher qualification. They engage in a two-year development programme.

They are trained in different aspects of skills development such as construction, disaster management, to name but a few. 

In turn the participants will return to their communities to plough back with the skills they have acquired in the programme.

500 participants graduated recently from a seven-week non-military training course at the De Brug Military Base in Bloemfontein. 

They were taught self-discipline, courage, leadership and patriotism. 

In December last year another 600 participants underwent a 10-day skills development programme at Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges in the Western Cape, after which they received certificates.

The course comprised subjects such as decision-making, citizenship and life skills orientation.  Some of these participants are here today.

All these programmes are designed to prepare the youth to become better persons and foot soldiers for their respective communities.
 
In line with our vision of a non-sexist, equitable and democratic South Africa, deliberate steps have been taken to ensure that the programme complies with gender and equity policies of our government.

Four participants including one person with disability are recruited from each of the close to 3 000 rural wards nationally, and the male to female ratio has to be 50-50. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

This occasion bears testimony to the fact that government is steadfast on its drive to eradicate poverty, fight crime and other social ills affecting youth in rural areas.

We are also ensuring that the youth in rural communities are absorbed into the mainstream of the country’s economy through acquiring skills.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Next month on June 16, we will again be commemorating the youth day, remembering the youth who were at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid.

When freedom beckoned, the youth faced death and bullets and did not flinch.

They responded to the call to build the mass democratic movement and acquitted themselves with distinction. This they did for themselves and for the nation, and they did not ask for special favours.

Even today, they do not ask for special favours. All these young people want, is to be taught how to fish for themselves and for the nation.

Through the National Rural Youth Service Corps programme, the government is providing the necessary platform to design the economic path that communities should take.

We wish all the participants well, and look forward to changing rural communities, as a result of this programme.

I thank you!

Source: The Presidency