Madam Speaker, hon members, I would like to start by explaining the difference between the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign and the National Youth Service. The main difference between the two initiatives is that in the volunteer campaign, we have a short-term intervention which aims to get young people to participate in volunteer programmes during vacations and holidays, for example, and engage in developmental community activities such as crime prevention, peer education, marine and costal management as well as support to vulnerable children. On the contrary the National Youth Service Programme, which is a long-term intervention running between 12 to 18 months, includes accredited technical training, life skills training and supervised community service.
The key objectives of the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign are to inculcate a civic responsibility culture amongst the youth, in keeping with Asgisa and other objectives of government of creating a caring and a sharing society; to raise awareness and the profile of the National Youth Service programme and to foster co-operation amongst national communities and stakeholders that partner with government departments.
It is our duty, as government, to demonstrate that everyone and all our young people can play a productive role in the development and in caring for most vulnerable people in our society. The volunteer campaign was launched in December 2005 and, therefore, has had an opportunity to impact on a larger number of young people.
We would urge members to encourage young people in their constituencies to make themselves available for the short-term volunteer campaign as well as for the longer-term National Youth Service programme which, for many of the young people who are unemployed, at risk and in need of skills, would be a more life-enhancing experience. Thank you.
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Deputy President for a comprehensive response. My question is: How can these young women and men access the programme in general, especially those in deep rural areas? Thank you.
Hon member, I have to say I also feel that the promotion and advertising of this programme is not as effective as it should be. On the one hand, we need to make the information available to as many young people as possible so that they know how to access the programme, but we are also conscious that we do not want to over-advertise and be unable to accommodate all of the young people whose interest we would have generated.
In part, we would like to rely on municipalities to engage, to select and to encourage young people to do that and, of course, our GCIS should also be involved. I would take responsibility and admit that there are some improvements that need to be made about advertising and promoting this programme. I would also like to offer information to the members here so that, through your constituency offices, you can also assist us to close the gap. Thank you. [Applause.]
Madam Speaker, Deputy President, it would be interesting to know how many youth formations were invited to participate in the initiative, and whether the wholly ineffective National Youth Commission has any role to play. Given the fact that the biggest problem amongst the youth is joblessness, could you please advise the House on the role the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign will play in helping to encourage the acquisition of new skills? Thank you.
I would start by defending the National Youth Commission. It is not an ineffective institution. [Interjections.] Sorry? [Interjections.] OK, you can send a message to Kader, I won't. I interact with them. I know that the current National Youth Commission, for instance, has been in place for a couple of months and the previous commission had teething problems. And I think one of the things that the new commission has embarked upon is to close the gap in those areas where the previous commission was weak.
There is no blanket answer about the strengths and weaknesses of the National Youth Commission, because in some provinces they are much stronger and in some provinces they are weaker. It is a matter of ensuring that where they are strong, we help them to do better and where they are weak, we strengthen them.
To answer the question, the National Youth Commission is an integral part of developing and implementing these programmes. In fact, in relation to the national volunteer service, there are now almost 30 000 young people that are participating. Most of them have been recruited through the structures of the National Youth Commission in different parts of the country. In those provinces where the National Youth Commission is stronger, it is reflected by the number of young people who have been able to stay in the programme and finish. But there are some provinces where the success is not something I would write to my mother about. Thank you. [Applause.]
Sekela-Mongameli obekekileyo, ngaba uyangqina na ukuba iNkonzo yeSizwe yokuXhobisa uLutsha, okanye iNational Youth Service ngesilungu, kunye nenkonzo yobuvolontiya, ngamaphulo amabini abaluleke kakhulu? Ngaphandle kokufundisa ulutsha umsebenzi ukuze lungazibandakanyi kulwaphulo-mthetho, akwabalulekile ekuvuseleleni izimilo ezweni lethu, ukwenzela ukuba ulutsha luzingce ngelizwe lalo. Ngaba uyakungqina na oko, Sekela-Mongameli?
USEKELA-MONGAMELI: Somlomo obekekileyo nelungu elibekekileyo elibuze umbuzo, ndiyangqina ukuba eli phulo libaluleke gqitha. Mandiphinde nditsho ukuba ukuqoqosha izimilo zolutsha yeyona nto ibalulekileyo ekufanele ukuba siyenze njengamalungu ePalamente nanjengabantu abasele bebadala.
Kungoko ke, ngokubhekisele kwiNkonzo yeSizwe yokuXhobisa uLutsha, singathanda ukucebisa abantwana ukuba bahlale kule nkonzo ixes ha eliziinyanga ukugqitha enyakeni kuba singathanda ukubabona betshintshile nkqu nendlela le yokuhamba xa bephuma kulo. Nikhe nibabone xa behamba bekekele, le nto elokishini yam kwakusithiwa kukubhampa? Sifuna ukuba xa bephuma kweli phulo bangabhampi koko bahambe kakuhle ngendlela enesimilo. Enkosi. [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[Adv Z L MADASA: Hon Deputy President, do you agree that both the National Youth Service programme and the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign are important? In addition to training youth in job-related skills in order to help them avoid being involved in criminal activities, these campaigns play a critical role in moral regeneration that would in turn motivate them so that they could be proud of their country.
Hon Speaker and the hon member who has asked the question, I agree that this campaign is important. Let me reiterate that as Members of Parliament and the elders, we need to inculcate in our youth a sense of moral regeneration as one of the most important things.
It is for that reason that we, in the National Youth Commission, would like to advise our children to remain in this church for a period of about a year; starting from this month. Have you seen them waddling? In my township we used to refer to this kind of walk as "bumping". We want to see them moving and walking decently after training. Thank you. [Applause.]]
Somlomo, mhlonishwa Phini likaMongameli, lubasiza kuphi lolo hlelo laba abancane ekucosheni imisebenzi uma sebephuma lapho? [Madam Speaker, hon Deputy President, how does this programme help the youth to get employment after leaving it?]
USEKELA-MONGAMELI: Somlomo, abanye babantu abasele beqalile ukungena kwiNkonzo yeSizwe yokuXhobisa uLutsha bathi bengekayigqibi babe sele bebonwa ngabaqeshi, baze abo baqeshi babaqeshe. Siyazama ukugxininisa kubo ukuba xa ubani eziphethe kakuhle, waqhuba kakuhle, uza kukhawuleza ukufumana umsebenzi. Loo nto inceda ekubeni bafumaneke abasebenzi abafanelekileyo. Kanti enye into entle kukuba siyakwazi ukubabona abanezakhono, ekubonakalayo ukuba kufuneka babuyele esikolweni. Bathi xa bephuma kweli phulo sibe sesibazamela indlela yokuba babuyele esikolweni baye kuqhubela phambili imfundo yabo.
Njengokuba ngoku sele kukho iikholeji zokufundela imisebenzi, okanye ii-FET college ngesilungu, singathanda ukuba abo bafundela umsebenzi wezandla bathi xa bephuma apho baye kungena kwinkqubo yokufundela umsebenzi kwezi kholeji.
Okwesithathu, singathanda ukuba kubekho inkqubo abaphumela kuyo. Besingekakwazi ke ukuwucwangcisa kakuhle lo mba ngoba besisalindele uMphathiswa wezeziMali ukuze sibone ukuba usipha malini khon' ukuze sibe nokuseka inkqubo eza kubanika izakhono ukuze xa bephuma kweli phulo sikwazi ukubasebenzisa.
Ngoku sicela ukuba sibambisane nemibutho engekho phantsi kukarhulumente, iinkampani kwanamasebe ukuze xa ifuna abantu abanezakhono ezithile baze kukhangela kwaba bantwana. Abanye babo sifuna ukuba babe ngoosomashishini abazimeleyo. Sifuna ukuba bathi xa bephuma kweli phulo aba bakhayo, abe umntu enebhokisi yakhe yokugcina izixhobo zokusebenza anokuyisebenzisa ukuya kufuna umsebenzi.
Kwakhona, sifuna ukusebenzisa eli phulo lokuba urhulumente abonelele ngesixa-mali esithile ukukhawulelana nomvuzo wabo baqalayo ukusebenza athethe ngalo uMongameli ukunceda abanye babantu abatsha ngoba kuya kuba lula ukubafumana nokubamba udliwanondlebe nabo. Enkosi. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Madam Speaker, some of the people who have already started with the National Youth Service programme are poached by prospective employers before completing their training. We are trying to highlight to them that if they conduct themselves accordingly and perform well they will get a job easily. That helps in getting suitable candidates. We can also easily identify people with potential who would need to go for further training. After training we ensure that they go for further training.
Now that there are also FET colleges, we would like to encourage those who are being trained in handicraft to go and study further at these colleges.
Thirdly, we would also like to put in place development programmes that would employ them as soon as they have completed their training. We have not been able to do proper planning, as we have been waiting on the Minister of Finance for our budget allocation that would enable us to set up a programme that would provide skills to them so that after they have been trained we could employ them.
Therefore, we request that we work in partnership with non-governmental organisations, companies and departments so that when they need people with certain skills, they may select from them. We would like some of them to be set up in their own companies. We want to empower those who train in building and construction so much so that on completion of their training, each one of them has a complete tool box with which they could market themselves.
Furthermore, we would like to follow up on the President's proposal that the government should consider providing financial assistance to meet the financial needs and augment the salaries of some of the newly employed youth, because it would be easy to attract them for interviews. Thank you.]
High crime rate a constraint for investment and economic growth
2. Dr S M van Dyk (DA) asked the Deputy President:
Whether, in light of the World Bank's recent investment climate survey findings as well as that of Grant Thornton regarding the high crime rate as a constraint for further investment and growth (details furnished), she will add crime as the seventh binding constraint to economic growth under the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgisa); if not, why not; if so, what measures will be implemented in order to deal with this constraint?