Speaker
Members of Parliament
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
This year we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of June 16, 1976. The Soweto Uprising saw brave young men and women being butchered by the apartheid regime. Dogs and guns against stones and song. Courage against brutality.
This is the courage, honourable members, which we must continue to show as we deal with our development challenges. We celebrate those brave young heroes and heroines from Soweto, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Cradock and the length and breadth of South Africa.
Their sacrifices have led to this democratic society. We must never forget this.
We note the Social Profile of Youth Report released by Stats SA on Monday. We are encouraged by the decline in the number of young people living below the poverty line. But there are too many youth social profile indicators that we are worried about including employment, effects of crime, the poor uptake of entrepreneurship and the effects of infectious diseases.
We will use this report to strengthen our youth development interventions as we implement the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2020 whilst targeting the most vulnerable amongst our youth population.
The work of the Presidential Task Team on the Creative Industries continues. The Task Team has extensively engaged with stakeholders across the creative industries. Their valuable input has helped to shape the Intellectual Property draft legislation led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Further work to reduce piracy and develop a social insurance scheme for artists are being prioritised.
Last year Honourable Members, I stood here and talked at length about the new National Youth Policy 2020 (NYP2020). I mentioned the five key pillars of the NYP2020 as enabling economic participation and transformation; facilitating education, skills development and second chances; health care and combating substance abuse; facilitating nation building and social cohesion, and optimising the youth development machinery.
I am pleased to announce that the policy is being implemented and monitored at the highest level of government. In June 2015 the President established the Presidential Working Group on Youth comprising of deputy ministers to monitor and drive the implementation of the NYP 2020.
Work streams, comprising of business, civil society, and government departments were set up in each of the five priority areas.
These partners act as catalysts in ensuring that the NYP2020 is implemented and monitored. Implementation is gaining momentum and indeed every sector of society is beginning to understand that youth development is everyone’s business.
On education, skills development and second chances: A sector plan for the introduction of second chance programmes for all learners that have not succeeded in Matric or Grade 12 is being implemented; a policy to ensure that there is articulation between schools, community colleges, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and universities is being finalised in 2016/17 financial year.
Since the inception of the National Skills Accord in 2011, State owned enterprises have collectively trained young people in various scarce and critical skills.
On economic participation: Since the advent of the Youth Employment Accord, employment of young people in agriculture increased to 418 360; increase in employment of young people in construction is 158 000 and government has employed an additional 126 000. The Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) aims to create urban spaces that are inclusive, resilient and liveable.
The City of Johannesburg’s Co-Jedi Learnership Programme will train 1000 young people in the ICT sector, while the Vulindlel’ eJozi programme will enable 200 000 young people to access work, education and training opportunities. However, the high unemployment rate amongst young people remain a major source of concern and more work must be done.
Health care and combating substance abuse: The building of substance abuse treatment centres is ongoing with fund availed to ensure that each province has a treatment centre. Seven centres are operational and with two centres in the Northern Cape and Free State to be complemented in next two years.
The Drug Master Plan itself is being reviewed to ensure consistency in policy approach to substance abuse and sufficient funding must be provided for research to ensure that the war on drugs is informed by evidence.
Nation building and social cohesion: In 2015 racism reared its ugly head all too frequently and refuses to be confined to the dustbin of history where it belongs. Amongst the many initiatives that are to be implemented to foster nation building and social cohesion is the National Youth Service programme.
As the President announced, we will working towards 1 million young people participating in the National Youth Service Programme by 2020. As they share spaces and work with each other, this sizable number of youth will discover their common humanity. They will use their energy to build our nation and provide valuable services to communities.
This National Youth Service Programme will build trust and start a tsunami of young people who see themselves as South Africans ready to serve rather than be served. The draft National Youth Service Framework will be submitted to Cabinet for approval in the next weeks. Thereafter we expect to begin a process of nation-wide consultation on the draft framework.
On optimising youth development machinery: The NYDA is vigorously implementing its turn-around strategy. The capacity of the DPME is being bolstered to adequately monitor and give direction to youth development across government.
Honourable members, it is common cause that there has been remarkable positive developments at the NYDA. The outgoing board can be proud of:
- The first clean audit of the Agency reflecting full compliance with laws and regulations.
- Better governance and the reduction of irregular expenditure.
- Successful corporate restructuring that reduced the salary bill from R189 million in 2015/16 to a projected R145 million in 2016/17.
- The growth of the Education and Skills Development budget from R31 million in 2012/13 to R80 million in 2016/17.
- The successful implementation of the Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund providing scholarship funds to deserving students.
- An increase in grant financing to young entrepreneurs from R12 million in 2013/14 to a projected R35 million in 2016/17.
The new board, which Parliament must recommend to the President, will build on the successful foundation laid by the outgoing board.
In 2016/17, the NYDA will spend R72 million in programmes to facilitate economic participation for young people.
R87 million has been set aside for programmes in education, skills development, health and well-being representing a 44% budget increase. The greatest increase in the NYDA budget is for the National Youth Service programme with budget increase from R22 million to R53 million. With this budget, the NYDA must develop new and impactful NYS programme models that can be taken to scale.
The National Youth Service Programme will be implemented by government at all levels, civil society and the private sector. The NYDA will provide technical assistance and training to government and civil society to design, develop and implement National Youth Service programmes.
This is to ensure that the vision of a million young people in service programmes by 2020 is realised.
An improved and credible NYDA has resulted in growing expectations from young people. Not meeting these expectations is the main risk for the agency. The NYDA will continue to lobby various sectors of society to leverage investments for youth development.
The NYDA’s solid base of good governance, effective operations and impactful programmes present a compelling case for increased funding from the National Treasury.
We will persuade more stakeholders to join us in driving our youth development vision as highlighted in our NYP 2020; a “South Africa envisioned in which young people and their organisations not only enjoy and contribute to their full social, political and economic potential, but also recognise and develop their responsibilities to build a better life for all.”
