Honourable Deputy Minister, Obed Bapela,
Executive Managers from Premier’s Office,
Representatives from SANCA,
Representatives from LoveLife,
Representatives from SAPS Youth Desk,
Representatives from NICRO,
Representatives from PPSA,
Department of Education,
Department of Health,
Department of Social Development,
Youth Formations,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentleman.
Alcohol and Substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking is a global phenomenon, and South Africa is no exception. This has serious implications for millions of South Africans because alcohol and substance abuse contributes to crime, gangsterism, domestic violence, family dysfunction and other social problems.
Moreover, it has been reported that drug abuse in South Africa is twice the world norm in most cases. In particular, youth have borne the brunt of abuse with the emergence of local drugs such as Nyaope and Kubar. The National Youth Development Agency recognises that the drug problem is complex and requires decisive and collective national action.
We are also of the firm believe that a drug free young generation is everyone’s responsibility. As a result we have put in place various initiatives and programmes together with partners towards the fight against this scourge.
At the end of April, the NYDA concluded a peer counselling programme in partnership with SANCA having trained 520 peer counsellors in 26 schools in the Western Cape and 180 peer counsellors in 9 schools right here in the Northern Cape. A further 28 young people were trained as ambassadors for substance abuse campaigns in Hammanskraal where the drug Nyaope is crippling the lives of many young people. We acknowledge that much more needs to be done in the struggle for a drug free South Arica.
The You Decide underage programme, is a partnership with the national Department of Trade and Industry, the National Youth Development Agency as well as provincial Education departments and local liquor authorities, and forms part of SAB’s wider strategy to tackle alcohol abuse, which includes targeted interventions such as Alcohol Evidence Centres, the Responsible Trader Programme, the Tavern Intervention Programme and initiatives to tackle Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.
The ‘You Decide’ Underage drinking programme is a comprehensive campaign to tackle the scourge of underage drinking in South Africa. The programme was designed to demonstrate to teens that the choices they make now, can impact on their future positively or negatively. It tackles the four key influencers of a teenager: peers, teachers, communities, parents as well as the individual teens themselves. We are happy that the campaign has been able to record successes since it was launched.
It is important to continue to discourage teenagers from drinking and abusing alcohol at an early age as this puts their lives at risk, including engaging in unprotected sexual activities and in the process exposing them to the possibilities of contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS and engaging in crime and violence.
Every day we live with experiences of young people who lose their lives while engaged in activities that involve drinking, resulting in the lives of young people being cut short. We need to make a collective effort as communities to prevent this from happening by educating young people about the risks of alcohol from an early age.
Results of similar campaigns in Europe and America conducted by ICAP, the International Centre for Alcohol Policies, suggest that strategies focused on any one of the factors that might prove useful in curbing underage drinking are not nearly as effective as a combination strategy. Their analysis concludes that multiple interventions provide meaningful additional benefit over single ones.
As part of the National Youth Development Agency’s (NYDA) role in facilitating youth development, the agency recently aided Ukukhanya Rehabilitation Centre in KwaZulu Natal with R100 000 in cash.
The Centre, located in the Inanda, Eskebheni area treats mainly youth who battle drug and alcohol addiction and plans to use the funding to upgrade their facilities in order to better accommodate more patients. Ukukhanya Rehabilitation Centre is run by Khayelihle Gumbi, a one-time alcoholic who lost his home, job and a promising career to substance abuse.
He spent four years on the streets, sleeping in the Albert Park area before he began his recovery in 2007. He was still a youth himself when he started the centre. I was extremely humbled by the service and dedication shown by all those involved in Ukukhanya Rehabilitation Centre who are able to house homeless, destitute drug addicts and in so doing restore hope to families and communities.
I commend the selfless community service offered by this Centre with the little resources that they have and encourage other communities and youth to find inspiration in such stories of selflessness. Khayelihle Gumbi is a true role model and we are proud to support the centre he has established.
The NYDA cannot assist every young person or non-governmental organisation (NGO) that approaches us for funding however we endeavor to support as many meaningful beneficiaries as possible with the funds that we have at our disposal.
Furthermore we heed the call by Government to support the battle against substance abuse and continue our efforts under the theme, Working Together for Youth Development and a Drug Free South Africa beyond Youth Day 2013.
We urge parents, relatives and other community structures to play a role in raising awareness and to provide support to those affected. Communities are called on to report those involved in the trade of illegal substances so that we can fight and beat the scourge together. Already there are 215 Local Drug Action Committees around the country that are assisting communities manage their own preventative work at grassroots level.
The NYDA will continue to work with partners in the struggle against substance abuse by assisting drug rehabilitation and awareness centres across the country. We will also lobby and work together with the Department of Social Development to ensure that more young people are trained as social workers in their communities.
The reality is that South Africa needs a young generation that can contribute to the development of the country. The National Development Plan (NDP), the country's vision for the next 20 years, singles out young people as key to the development of the country.
The NDP highlights that South Africa’s youthful population presents an opportunity to boost economic growth, increase employment and reduce poverty. It also recognises that young people bear the brunt of unemployment and that ways to urgently reduce it and provide young people with broader opportunities must be sought. It proposes the strengthening of youth service programmes and the introduction of new, community-based initiatives to offer young people life-skills training and entrepreneurship training.
As the NYDA in executing our mandate towards the overall development of young people, we continue to implement various programmes to respond to the challenges facing young people. We believe that if we are able to help young people and occupy them with productive activities, they will realise their potential and contribute to a working and productive communities.
Given the developmental nature of the NYDA and the contending needs of young people, it often becomes important to do an analysis of the effectiveness of our approaches and strategies from time to time. It is for this reason that earlier this year we announced the new vision for the NYDA namely, ‘To be a Credible and Capable Development Agency for South Africa’s Youth’.
This new vision was informed by the need to restore credibility to the NYDA and to be adequately capable of delivering as many opportunities, as is possible with our resources, to the youth of South Africa.
Let us all work together to overcome this challenge that threatens the future of our youth and our country, if we continue to take a collective approach to these challenges, there is no reason we cannot overcome them.
I thank you!
