Young people must be saved from road accident
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu has called on newly appointed MEC for Transport Mxolisi Kaunda and MEC for Education Mthandeni Dlungwana to work together to intensify road safety campaigns to prevent the loss young people as a result of road accidents.
He was speaking today in Newcastle during a visit to a memorial site (Asiphephe Road) erected in memory of 31 learners and four adults who were killed in a road accident involving a truck and a bus in April 1998. The families of the deceased were visited by the former President of the Republic Nelson Mandela.
“Today we celebrate 40th Anniversary of June 16 against the background of the 52nd Anniversary of the Rivonia Trial Verdict. We celebrate these landmarks in our history not because they were happy events. We do so because they represented turning points in the struggle for freedom and democracy.”
“Therefore, my intention today is to reflect on the past - use our rich history in order to inform the continuing journey for the creation of a better life for all. As we much into the future, I am mindful of the fact that we are now a united nation. As opposed to the past, the people of this province now live in a free, democratic and equal society.”
“The central focus of my address is that the generation of young people of today have a central question to answer. Our rich history tells us that the past generations of young people had many central questions that they had to answer on a daily basis.”
“The freedom and democracy we are enjoying is an indication that the past generations of young people, were successful in answering questions they faced at that time.I assert that the central question facing the youth today is deepening democracy and expanding opportunities to the previously disadvantaged communities that continue to be mired in the triangle of poverty, inequality and unemployment.”
“As we approach the International Aids Conference, we are calling upon young people to be part of activities aimed at fighting HIV and Aids. We are encouraging you to be involved in sports and other programmes that will ensure behavioral change.”
“We are concerned about the high rate of HIV infection especially amongst young girls between the age of 15 and 24. It is for this reason that the provincial government is investing towards health education and other youth empowerment programmes. There is great hope that with all the opportunities that have been made available by this democratic government, the youth of today will rise to the occasion.”
“We are committed to ensuring that our programmes on skills and youth development are accessed by young people throughout all corners of this province. Starting from the early childhood development, there has been a strong focus on scarce skills such as engineering, science and technology, accounting, information technology, agriculture, health and social services.”
“Over the past five years the provincial government has spent more than R1, 5 billion on bursaries awarded to needy students. The accumulative number of students that have benefited from the bursary programme over the past five years is more than 7000.”
“There were more than 2000 students from poor families who benefitted from financial support provided by the provincial government at a cost of more than R54 million since 2013 alone.”
“The number of graduates provincially is more than 8000 and some are still studying. The overall number of progressing students provincially has increased from 2,990 in 2014 to more than 3000 in 2015. For the centralized departments, more than 800 students have progressing since 2014. The budget to fund these students from 2014/15 to 2015/16 is more than R20 million.”
Enquiries:
Ndabezinhle Sibiya
Spokesperson of the Premier
Cell: 082 375 4742
