PRESENTED TO

THE MINISTER OF LABOUR, MINISTER M.M.S MDLADLANA
THE MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY, MINISTER E.G PAHAD AND
THE PREMIER OF KWAZULU-NATAL, MR S.J NDEBELE

FROM THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY YOUTH BRIGADE

The Youth Brigade of the Inkatha Freedom Party hereby present a Memorandum calling upon President Thabo Mbeki to create a Ministry of Youth Affairs to prioritize the needs of the youth of South Africa and co-ordinate youth delivery programmes across government.

We further call upon President Mbeki to dismantle the costly National Youth Commission which has failed its mandate, to dismantle the ineffective Umsobomvu Youth Fund which has failed young people and to absorb all youth development interventions into a Ministry of Youth Affairs.

In the year of the tenth anniversary of democracy, we lament the fact that the youth of South Africa have largely been sidelined to the role of bystanders in government processes and policy formation. The ANC government has failed the youth of South Africa.

We believe this failure will have a detrimental effect on the long-term success of South Africa's democracy and development because over half of the population is under the age of eighteen.

Across the country, youth development is not being given the priority it deserves.

The challenges facing the youth of South Africa, which include unemployment, poverty, HIV/AIDS and crime are of such a magnitude that a Ministry of Youth Affairs is required to implement workable solutions.

Unemployment is alarmingly high at 40 percent, and rising. Young people who make up the majority and most active section of our population are being hit the hardest. Currently, the job market is unable to absorb the unemployed millions of young people in this country.

The Umsobomvu Youth Fund has been tailor-made for the elite and completely excludes the poor youth of this country. The Umsobomvu Youth Fund has marginalized the very young people it is supposed to serve because it is exclusive and inaccessible.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is decimating our youth. Of particular concern is that six times more girls and HIV infected than boys. Last year, two and a half times more young women in South Africa were HIV infected than their male counterparts.

The scale of these problems clearly demonstrates that a Ministry of Youth Affairs is urgently required to ensure that government approaches these issues in a joined-up and competent manner.

The Inkatha Freedom Party Youth Brigade pledge their support in everyway possible to the successful creation of a Ministry of Youth Affairs.

This memorandum hereby signed on this 13th day of November 2004 in ___________________

SIGNED:____________________ SIGNED:___________________