Youth

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The principle of umuntu ungumuntu ngabanye abantu [a person is a person because of, and through, others is a fundamental guiding principle of the IFP. This principle needs to be instilled among the youth of the nation.

The youth policy of the IFP encourages strong families and communities, positive role models, individual and communal self-reliance and the promotion of social justice. An IFP-led government will encourage and promote healthy lifestyles and high moral values among the youth, and focus on the immediate and long-term dangers of alcoholism, unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, drug and other substance abuses.

The IFP believes that the youth are entitled to:

• A stable family environment;
• Protection from exploitation, discrimination and abuse;
• Education, employment and recreational opportunities; and
• Representation in decision-making bodies affecting the youth.

The values which underlie the IFP’s youth policy include respect for human rights, freedom, tolerance, unselfishness, honesty and respect for law and order and those in authority.

It is imperative to employ the energy, enthusiasm and time of the youth to help combat poverty, disease and ignorance and for this purpose an IFP government would, inter alia, establish a voluntary National Youth Service. Youth development activities should primarily focus on those between 15 and 35 years of age.

Priority areas in respect of the IFP’s youth policy are education and training, employment, health and welfare, arts and culture, and sports and recreation.

The youth must develop positive work attitudes, show respect to young children, their elders and the disadvantaged, strengthen family values and traditions, and reject lives of violence, drugs and crime.

Key target groups of the party’s youth policy are young women, the unemployed, orphans, persons with disabilities, street children, the out-of-school and the rural youth.

At national level a Ministry of Youth Affairs in the Office of the President needs to be established, while at provincial level an independent bureau for youth affairs needs to be established within the office of each Premier.

A National Youth Council with structures at provincial and local level needs to be established.