Youth Month Debate: Celebrating a Vibrant Youth Voice
Speech by Pat Lebenya-Ntanzi MP
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National Assembly: 10th June 2009 Mr Speaker,
I am delighted to rise to the podium today to once again remember and honour the commitment and example of South Africa's heroes of June 16, 1976.
16 June 1976 is a day violently imprinted on the South African collective conscience. Commemorated over 33 years later as Youth Day, it is the day that honours the deaths of hundreds of Soweto school youth. On that day the apartheid regime and its police force were caught off guard when the simmering bubble of anger of school going youth finally burst, releasing an intensity of emotion.
On that day voices were heard of a generation of inspired youth resonating through the valleys and hills of South Africa; their vibrant youth voices cried: "this is our day." On that day, hundreds of youths lost their lives but it was a day that ultimately changed the future of our country, forever.
I believe that this is the true living message conveyed to us by the heroes of June 16, 1976 - courage and hope. The vibrant youth voices of 1976 taught us that there is no challenge too big that we cannot overcome. The chief aspiration at that time was freedom from oppression but today, despite the fact that we have made great strides since achieving democracy, unemployment particularly among the youth remains a major concern.
Mr Speaker, The reality is that, after 14 years of democracy, we still can't boast that a better life for all youths have been achieved. In some instances, we have gone backwards. Food prices are skyrocketing. Electricity supply is unstable. Fuel costs are exorbitant and rising fast. Criminality is rampant. Jobs are scarce. For many, houses are still unaffordable.
Education is not up to scratch. During the apartheid era, school children were exposed to intimidation and violence by the police. Today, school children experience intimidation and violence in their own classrooms from their own teachers and classmates.
Today, many youths still face the same problems as the generation of 1976. And the question is how can we make it better? The answer is to get involved. The torch has been passed to a new generation of South Africans and it is now time for us, the young people of this country to become politically active and rally against the many challenges we face in all its forms. Our generation must feel the same spirit of patriotism that drove our peers to become politically active. We must become vibrant youth voices for change!
Mr Speaker,
The relationship between society and youth is extremely complex. Nevertheless, it has been possible to describe a clear theme in this relationship: the tension between, on the one hand, the belief in the strength, innovative changes and improvements of, and by, the youth and, on the other hand, the fear of change and arguable increased loss of norms. This paradox is not particular to South Africa, nor is it to this generation of young people. It is the paradox that has probably applied in every age and every culture.
Mr Speaker, youth development remains one of the complex challenges facing democratic South Africa. Fifteen years after transition to democracy, it is young people, who are most severely affected by negative socio- economic factors such as HIV / Aids, high level of unemployment, poverty, unplanned pregnancies and lack of participation in political and economic development processes.
Recently the Presidency launched the National Youth Development Agency. It is an open secret that this development was among other things, due to the IFP who has over the decade raised a number of concerns about the incompetence of the erstwhile National Youth Commission and Umsobomvu Youth Fund.
Therefore, to the IFP and millions of our citizens, though not perfect, the launch of the new Agency presents all of us with a rare window of opportunity to fix what is wrong with our youth sector.
Mr Speaker, never like before, has government and youth formations had an opportunity to collectively address challenges facing young people in our country.
As fellow citizens we have an opportunity to start afresh beyond party lines.
The IFP believe that the importance and effectiveness of the Agency ultimately relies on youth organisations and government departments and their willingness to enforce youth centred policies and programmes.
The message to the new Agency and its leadership is clear. To those young people in the rural areas and slums struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, you should pledge your best efforts to help them help themselves, not because you seek their votes, but because it is right.
With courage and confidence you should pursue one goal that of ensuring that young people in our country participate as equal citizens in our economic and political processes. That in their endeavours our youth are only judged by the content of their character not by the colour of their skin or political affiliation.
This is our hope. This is the faith that young people and citizens have in the new Agency and its leadership. So they dare not fail.
I thank you.
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