Chairperson, hon members and young people of South Africa, with many in the ruling party loosing sight of the real challenges confronting young people, South Africa is in the wrong hands. The ruling party is obsessed with phrases and names when discussing the economic situation confronting South Africa. They worry greatly about whether the unemployment problem in South Africa can be solved through a youth wage subsidy - which we, as the DA, are proposing - or whether it should be under the auspices of a job-seeker grant, which the ANC in Mangaung proposed and resolved; or whether it should be under the newly formed and revised youth employment incentives. No matter what you choose to say, Mr President, just remember one thing and one thing only: that the South African youth will not be patient for a very long time. Allow me to address Mr President in absentia. Mr President, speeches like those made over the weekend at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development will not yield jobs. It takes more action than speeches to develop a nation. South Africa needs doers, not actors or speakers. Mere speaking does not mean delivery. Unlike the DA, the ANC keeps on talking and making empty promises, and nothing but promises. [Interjections.] We are tired of speeches. We need action, action and more action. These are the words of the youth of South Africa today.
The National Youth Development Agency is failing in its mandate. Of the R20 million planned for the funding of small businesses in the year under review, the 2011-12 financial year, only R0,8 million was spent. This accounts for 95,9% of the total budget meant to help young people. This has gone unspent and this affects young people whom it should have helped to grow as entrepreneurs. "Youth at the centre of economic opportunities" remain doomed.
I also need to say that there is something that we need to learn elsewhere in the world. I have taken the time to take a very good look at the research and work done by Harvard University in assessing the problems confronting the work environment. In fact, their challenge is similar to our challenges in South Africa: Universities and institutions of higher learning in general are producing students who are not ready for the workplace. They do not necessarily possess the skills required in the various sectors of the employment field. How, then, do you fix this situation? I think we should be taking lessons from the report that Harvard University has produced.
We need to go deeper than the current situation that confronts us; deeper than simply coming here and making speeches. We should listen to the young people from Lebode, Thaba Nchu, Nqamakwe and Tzaneen. They are saying that they do not know what the NYDA is doing for them. [Interjections.] The only time they see the NYDA is when there is a rally, organised for the ANC. [Interjections.] The only time they hear anything being said about them is when Ministers make speeches, like the one who made the speech here before me, saying that we intend to do this, that and the following for young people. The real question is: Does that translate into the creation of jobs instead of being mere speeches that you make on this podium? We need to be more serious than that. [Interjections.]
Hear, hear!
There has been an announcement that R3 billion has been allocated to the Industrial Development Corporation and to the Small Enterprise Finance Agency - but then you put the NYDA into that equation! I wonder what kind of young people we are listening to every day. I invite you to listen to what young people are saying. Give them funds directly. Don't go via the conduit of the NYDA because that organisation is not taking its mandate seriously. Look at the report of the 2011-12 financial year right now - how can you take that same NYDA and make it responsible for R3 billion when it has failed to deliver R20 million to young people? It is a problem. [Interjections.] I am sure you cannot be trusted yourself. [Interjections.]
I want to say that the premier of Western Cape has implemented an NYDA in this province. [Interjections.] You are not even listening. I did not say the NYDA; I said a youth wage subsidy ... [Interjections.] ... but you are saying, "Hey!" The ANC has one lesson to learn and that is to watch the DA take over the government in the Northern Cape and Gauteng ... [Applause.] ... and, eventually, you will see us going street by street, house by house, in villages, towns and cities. There we come! The DA is going to govern. We are not going to do this nonsense of empty promises, empty promises and empty promises. [Interjections.]
Today I can say to the South African youth: Don't be scared! Don't be worried! The DA is coming and you are going to be free. [Applause.] The time will come. [Interjections.] Don't worry, we are coming. Wait for the right time. You will see the results next year. [Applause.]
Chairperson, today's debate is about the theme "Youth at the centre of economic opportunities". I want to take it further by saying, "Youth at the centre of economic opportunities in advancing the national youth development plan." This is very important for the country. Today I am not speaking to the ANC, but to the nation. [Interjections.] The reason is that it is the responsibility of the youth of our country today to buy in and commit themselves to the National Development Plan, for the following reasons.
Firstly, as Cope, we associate ourselves with the new vision of the National Youth Development Agency. We do so for two reasons. The first is that we believe investing in the education of our young people will take us forward. The second is that investing in the skills development of our young people will also take us forward. When we were growing up, our parents told us that we had to go to school, to university and to work for us to be able to build a better life for our families. That is gone because we are not communicating that to our young people.
We should make sure that we, as a country, do not develop young people who rely on government. The government's responsibility is to lay a foundation for the youth, and they should grab those opportunities to build a better country for themselves. It is a shame that today's youth, parents and families have to rely on government for them to have a better life. It is the responsibility of the youth of South Africa to look after their parents and our people, to attend school in order to learn and to build houses for them. The idea of government continuously building houses for people, then later people burn things in the streets - that is the result of a lack of responsibility. As young people, we have a responsibility to go to school, to learn, to go to university and then to go and work for our families.
As Cope, we commit ourselves to that vision because redirecting your money to education and to skills takes responsibility. That builds a youth who understands their responsibilities. [Applause.] Mrs Njobe once narrated a story to me of her stay in Ghana. She said that what Kwame Nkrumah built in the youth of his country was the understanding that taking responsibility as a young person for building a nation will build a better person at the same time. You will build a better family and a better nation state. [Interjections.] Not everyone in the ANC knows the struggle. Not all of them. But this is not important right now.
The violence we experience in our country today is caused by the very same young people who are supposed to reconstruct the country. The violence we witness in Port Elizabeth, where I am from, where African brothers are killed every day, is something that O R Tambo and Kwame Nkrumah would never have been proud of. The very same Africans harboured our parents - some who are sitting on this side and others who are sitting on that side of the House - in their own countries. If we are a nation that is not able to stand up and if we are not able to build the youth of this country, that will undermine our struggle to build a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world.
Ephraim Mogale and Hector Pieterson were conscious of what the Freedom Charter says about building friendships with all Africans. What we see today is something that as the youth we should not be proud of. All of us, as this collective of Parliament, must be at the forefront of educating our people on the importance of the struggles of Africa to the struggle of South Africa. We were given shelter, jobs and food by the very same people we are killing today. Will violence solve our problems? The answer is no. We did not want to build a violent South Africa. We wanted to build a better South Africa for our children and for generations to come. Therefore, I agree with the Minister in some respects. This youth debate should be a debate not to celebrate but to commemorate and educate the young people of our country about national consciousness, African consciousness and world consciousness.
For as long as we do not get to that level, we cannot celebrate. The problems that our country faces at Lonmin, of the youth throwing human waste in front of government and legislative property of this country, while we keep quiet, means we cannot celebrate. These are things that cannot be celebrated. This is not what Govan Mbeki and Nelson Mandela fought for. Mandela did not fight so that we could take over this country and have human waste thrown in front of this Parliament. The only Parliament we wanted to destroy was the Pretoria regime - and that is no more. It is our country now. It is us - government, the opposition and everybody here - that should take responsibility and provide education to our people. [Applause.] We can only achieve that as a nation if we educate those who are supposed to take over and inherit this country. [Applause.]
The youth today, whether from the ruling party, the opposition benches or anywhere else, is not the kind of young person that Siphiwe Mthimkhulu was. He knew that first he had to be at the forefront of the struggle to liberate the people of South Africa, and then giving them what is better. What are we teaching the youth today? We are teaching them violence and war. [Interjections.] You adults who are sitting here - you are responsible, for we are the very people who are using the youth to do all the wrong things that we are seeing in our country. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
House Chairperson, today is not a day for petty politicking or cheap rhetoric. Addressing the Inkatha Youth Brigade on 18 June 1985, the IFP president, hon Buthelezi, said:
Because there is so much at stake, and because there is such a vast suffering among our people, I believe it is vitally necessary for us to be sure in everything we do. Every failure we make is a failure which costs some people more suffering. Every time we blunder, we delay final victory and we prolong the suffering of the people. Every misconceived strategy retards progress and increases the difficulties which lie ahead. Our humanity cries out for us to have wise strategies that will work and to embark on ventures which can succeed. These words are timeless. On the basis of these words, the IFP is committed to nation-building and the principles of constructive opposition. Since 1997, the IFP Youth Brigade has called for the creation of a national youth department, with a fully fledged Ministry, to operate in all three spheres of government. This is an issue that we have skirted around for far too long. This hide-and-seek game we are playing must come to an end.
On 13 November 2004, the IFP Youth Brigade sent a memorandum to the Presidency, calling for the establishment of a youth Ministry. Nine years on, we still await a response. [Interjections.] The disjointed manner in which youth matters are handled in this country is at best shameful and inconsistent with the dreams, hopes and aspirations of young South Africans.
This very Parliament does not have a committee of any kind, form or sort to deal with youth matters, except for the ad hoc oversight by the Department of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, DPME, over the NYDA and the by- the-way steering committee on youth month.
I am glad that the proposal I made to the steering committee on the youth parliament, for the establishment of a multiparty youth caucus, has received support. This morning a proposal to that effect was handed over to the presiding officers by the steering committee.
The absence of both a youth Ministry and a parliamentary committee on youth matters has resulted in the NYDA having to squat in the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. In this regard, the oversight on the NYDA is very confusing, disorganised and peripheral: The budget allocation for the NYDA comes out of the Presidency Vote 1, but its spending is monitored by another department. Therefore, the money is debated in Vote 1 and overseen somewhere else.
The absence of a portfolio committee on the Presidency further compounds this problem. In all this chaos it is the youth of South Africa that is left wanting. Youth development deserves the same treatment as women development as it is prioritised through the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, in the portfolio committee and the multiparty women's caucus.
The sacrifices of our past should spur us into action to improve the lives of all South Africans, particularly the youth, who are hit hardest by each and every failure. We owe it to the memory of the youth of 1976, the youth of 2013 and the youth of tomorrow to establish the necessary institutions that will ensure that we alleviate their plight and guarantee that they secure sustainable livelihoods. We can no longer pay lip service to youth development. The rhetoric is stale and the time for implementation is now.
In conclusion, let me say that the failure of government to fast-track job creation, particularly among the youth, is something that the ruling party is going to regret in the election next year. [Interjections.] Sort it out very, very quickly! [Applause.]
Chairperson, the title for this youth debate can be considered tragically ironic. Youth should be at the centre of economic opportunities in South Africa. Instead they have to battle against all the biggest challenges facing our country. These include HIV, a failing education system and a youth unemployment rate that, at over 50%, is dangerously high.
This is a perfect storm of challenges and our government is not doing its jobs passing policies that can aid South Africa's youth in taking up economic opportunities in our country. The youth wage subsidy, which if it had been passed three years ago, as promised, would have created nearly 200 000 jobs for our young people who so desperately need a foot on the economic ladder.
It is a tragic betrayal of all the aspirations and dreams of our youth that the ANC has allowed itself to be hijacked by its alliance partner, Cosatu, which is only interested in looking after the interests of those who are already employed and do not want to support a policy that will help defuse the ticking time bomb of youth unemployment.
It is now time to act decisively and to finally put an end to this debate by implementing the youth employment tax incentive that was announced by Minister Gordhan in his Budget Speech this year.
I do not just want to refer to the government's depressing failure to offer any hope to our young generation, because I do not believe that this is the hopeless generation. Despite government's failures, some of our young people are still managing to take charge of their lives and turn hopeless situations into economic opportunities. At the anniversary of the Western Cape's 110% green initiative, which was held in Khayelitsha today, I was privileged to hear the inspirational story of Sizwe Nzima, who started the business Iyeza Express, delivering chronic medication to patients using bicycles.
At only 21 years of age, Sizwe Nzima is employing four people and has hugely ambitious plans for his business. In his speech he emphasised the importance of forming partnerships with government and other stakeholders. I hope other young South Africans are inspired by his example and can find economic opportunities to deliver on the needs of our people. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon members and hon Ministers, we commemorate youth day at a time when youth unemployment in South Africa has reached crisis levels. Facts and statistics on unemployment from the Statistics SA Labour Force Survey show that unemployment for people between the ages of 15 to 34 years of age in South Africa stands at 70,7%. This means that more young people are idle than ever before.
This high rate of youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb and threatens to worsen political instability in South Africa, as millions of young people are not only jobless but have also lost hope about ever finding a job.
There are numerous factors contributing to this challenge. The most obvious one is the poor quality of our basic education system. The South African education system is failing to equip our youth with basic skills. Unless government improves the education system, unemployment will be an albatross around our necks for many years to come.
While fixing our education system is a medium-term to long-term project, there are a number of immediate interventions government can make to remove the youth from the periphery of economic activity. For instance, in some developing countries governments invest significant resources in the professionalisation and development of informal sector business. This has helped to reduce youth unemployment and unemployment in general and could work in South Africa as well.
We are aware that channelling youth to the informal sector is not a panacea for the youth unemployment problem, but it does serve as an important source of employment. Furthermore, a thriving informal sector would ensure that the youth are able to contribute to the economy, albeit less effectively than they could be otherwise.
However, such measures are possible only if government depoliticises the youth development agencies, such as National Youth Development Agency, in order to ensure that they discharge their mandates effectively.
All in all, to diminish the chronic youth unemployment problem, government needs to adopt economic policies that ignite economic growth and build an education system capable of unleashing the potential of the South African economy.
Chairperson, let me correct the hon Hlengwa regarding the proposal of the multiparty youth caucus. It was not your work or your suggestion; it was the work of the steering committee. It emanated from the concept for Youth Month this year. Tell no lies and claim no easy victories! [Interjections.] To the doomsayers and those who do not see any window of opportunity; that only see darkness, we will prove you wrong as a country. [Interjections.]
No, you never will!
This morning, we launched the Youth Month programme of Parliament under the theme, "Youth at the Centre of Economic Opportunities". We could not find any place to locate young people, only in the mainstream economy, engaging with the opportunities presented before them. Throughout the month, Parliament will provide a platform to encourage young people, through active debate and engagement, to take part in shaping the country.
We are excited that Youth Parliament will be done differently this year, as we are about to conclude the fourth Parliament. We are taking the Youth Parliament to the youth out there. We are going to have a young people's assembly, where young people will engage on issues that affect them. [Interjections.] Parliament has to ensure that the youth continue to play a critical role in social transformation, reconstruction and development in the postapartheid era. South Africa has a youthful population. This presents an opportunity to boost economic growth, increase employment and reduce poverty.
Our biggest challenge remains the fact that millions of young people are disengaged from both education and work.
Do you only realise that now?
Noting that youth unemployment is a major challenge and needs urgent co-ordinated responses in order to be addressed, a comprehensive strategy on youth employment, as part of a broader focus on expanding employment in South Africa, is necessary. Last Saturday, President Jacob Zuma addressed the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, Ticad V, seminar in Japan, under the theme, "Enhancing Business Commitment in South Africa towards and beyond Ticad V". Among the issues raised was global youth unemployment - youth unemployment is seen as being a global crisis. Of the world's unemployed, 40% are young people. The International Labour Organisation, at its 101st conference, adopted a resolution on the youth unemployment crisis, calling for action. The resolution calls for immediate, targeted and renewed action to tackle the youth unemployment crisis.
The President mentioned that in the South African context, the systems of apartheid also created a serious skills deficit in the economy. South Africa also hosts a large number of young people from all over the continent. He mentioned that South Africa has developed a number of sectoral strategies, focusing on skills development, to meet these challenges. Youth unemployment features prominently in our National Development Plan, which is our blueprint document that will guide us through this challenging task to create full employment. This unemployment means that too many South Africans are jobless and are excluded from actively participating in the formal economy. The figure is 2,2 million and it contributes 2% of the world's unemployment rate.
However, we are optimistic that with our renewed and concerted efforts, we shall turn the tide. Our road map, the NDP, guides us to what is to be achieved. There is light at the end of the tunnel, the storm will be over sooner than we think, if our renewed efforts are translated into positive spin-offs. [Interjections.] The young people of the country need youth service programmes, community-based programmes to offer young people life- skills training, entrepreneurship training and opportunities to participate in the community development programmes.
The Minister in the Presidency - National Planning Commission, Mr Manuel, indicates that young people are key to South Africa's development, and educated young South Africans must be a key voice in ensuring that children from disadvantaged communities have access to education. The three priorities that stand out in the NDP are raising employment through faster economic growth; improving the quality of education, skills development and innovation; and building the capacity of the state to play a developmental, transformative role.
A sustainable increase in employment will require a economy that grows faster, and the removal of structural impediments is needed. The approach to youth employment must be based on the common recognition that more jobs need to be created to ensure that the total number of South Africans employed is significantly stepped up; that the benefits must reach many more people through sustainable and decent work opportunities; and to avoid youth employment schemes that simply displace older workers.
We want to welcome, hon Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation, the "big five" responses to youth unemployment. I would like to quote further from your address at the launch of Youth Month, when you said:
If we are to deal with these challenges effectively, society should be mobilised to partner with the youth in order to respond to these "big five" issues.
It is incumbent on us, active citizens working with government, to ensure that these issues translate into programmes. As an activist Parliament, our role is that of providing oversight and monitoring and evaluating the impact of programmes on the lives of the youth. It cannot be right that young people drop out of school and parents and active citizens don't take action to encourage young people to remain in the schooling system and complete their schooling. Where is the African proverb that says it takes a community to raise a child?
We want to welcome the Second Chance programme, driven by the Minister of Higher Education, which affords those who couldn't complete their matric to have a second chance.
I conclude by noting that our capacity, as young people, is sometimes doubted. People say we are too young and we have little or no experience at all. The sceptics say we are too young and not capacitated to be afforded this opportunity. All we ask is the opportunity to grow and reach our full potential. [Applause.]
Voorsitter, die jeug van Suid-Afrika, insluitende die kontinent Afrika, is deel van 'n geskiedkundige demografiese dividend wat f 'n geweldige ekonomiese hupstoot vir Afrika kan gee f 'n geweldige faktor kan wees in die destabilisering van state, insluitende Suid-Afrika. Europa en die VSA, asook nou tot 'n mate China, kon die demografiese dividend doeltreffend aanwend tot enorme ekonomiese groei en ontwikkeling, met gepaardgaande groei in die ekonomiese welvaart van die gewone persoon in die straat. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Adv A D ALBERTS: Chairperson, the youth of South Africa, including the African continent, is part of a historical demographic dividend that can either give Africa an economic kick-start or be an enormous factor in destabilising states, including South Africa. Europe and the USA, as well as China now to a degree, can employ the demographic dividend effectively for enormous economic growth and development, with accompanying growth in the economic prosperity of the average man in the street.]
South Africa is struggling to use this demographic dividend effectively. Instead of super economic growth, we are dealing with dire statistics: 50% of employable persons under 25 are unemployed; the under-25s constitute 30% of the total unemployed; 60% of those who left school did so without a matric certificate; the average time spent looking for a job equals 806 days, and young people are competing in a pool of 6,5 million job seekers.
This struggle means that South Africa can in the foreseeable future face significant unrest, stemming from a frustrated youth. The answers are obvious: We need economic growth that creates jobs fast and sustainably. However, the problems outlined by the statistics have an underlying reality of cause and effect that can be found in government policies that do not work.
Die regering se beleid skiet ver te kort in die volgende areas. Eerstens, basiese onderwys is so swak dat diegene wat uit daardie stelsel kom, veral arm, swart jongmense, beskou word as onaanstelbaar, behalwe vir ongeskoolde arbeid. Dit is 'n nasionale skande en mens kan net wonder of die regering opsetlik die massas ongeskool wil hou, ten einde hulle maklik te beheer. 'Liberation before education' [vryheid voor opvoeding] is steeds die mantra. Die eerste stap in die regstel hiervan is die instel van moedertaalonderrig, meer klem op Wiskunde en Wetenskap en die daarstel van hor slaagstandaarde. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[The government's policy is sadly lacking in the following areas. Firstly, basic education is so poor that those who emerge from that system, often poor black youth, are regarded as unemployable, except for unskilled labour. This is a national disgrace and one can only wonder whether the government is deliberately keeping the masses unschooled all the better to keep them under control. 'Liberation before education' remains the mantra. The first step in correcting this is the introduction of mother tongue education, more emphasis on mathematics and science and establishing higher pass standards.]
Secondly, end affirmative action for those who have matriculated after 1994, so as to create an inclusive and diverse economy. This will grow the economy and allow for more job creation, instead of driving youngsters into unemployment. Also, end job reservation when nonblack candidates are available.
The consequences of this policy have dire effects. For instance, the country faces a severe shortage in veterinarians as the unfilled quotas for black students are not filled with other students, leading to a growing shortage that will undermine the country's future. There are many other examples, especially in government, where a complete overrepresentation of blacks exists.
Die aanspreek van die probleme sal beide sosiale kohesie en ekonomiese ontwikkeling moontlik maak en Suid-Afrika op die pad plaas van ongekende groei, deur middel van sy demografiese dividend. Die alternatief is dat die dividend eerder 'n las word wat die land uitmekaar kan skeur.
Minderhede bied hul steun aan om die land te maak werk, maar sou die hand weggeklap word en orde verval, sal nasionale minderhede geen keuse h as om hul toevlug te neem tot die skepping van 'n alternatiewe, sosio-ekonomiese realiteit nie. Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Addressing these problems will encourage social cohesion and economic development and will place South Africa on the road to untold growth, by way of its demographic dividend. The alternative is that the dividend will rather become a burden that may tear the country apart.
Minorities are offering their support to make the country work, but if that hand were to be fended off, and if the order were to collapse, then the national minorities will have no choice but to seek refuge in the creation of an alternative socio-economic reality. Thank you.]
Chair, the young people I spoke to before this debate were adamant that they had no proper platform where they could raise issues like youth unemployment, an education system that did not prepare youth to enter the job market, crime, dropouts and alcohol and substance abuse. "We are the majority," they said, "and we are frustrated that older people think they know what young people are experiencing, like the Youth Employment Accord that was signed on 24 April. Most of the people there were in their late fifties, yet they think they can address our issues and challenges." If we kept ignoring the young people of this country, then we should brace ourselves for a revolution, they said. They said that they needed jobs, needed to be developed and needed to be prioritised and treated like real South Africans by being given opportunities as well.
One young leader said to me the sad truth is that if you are a youth in this country who has never had any work experience and you reach the age of 30, chances are you won't get any employment anywhere in the country, other than slaving on a farm. He said he knows how frustrating it is to be a young person in this country. He said that often top politicians use that to their advantage to make them step up the ladder and achieve their political goals.
They need real opportunities to prove their worth. A Youth Ministry, in our opinion, is the answer, because agencies like the National Youth Development Agency are not doing us any good. They are there only to carry out the ruling party's mandate. That young leader said they were asking kindly right now, but soon they would be demanding harshly.
Talking about the NYDA, another young person asked me how the NYDA could assist them if they were politically centralised and there was no representation from the opposition youth formation in the NYDA leadership. Only Young Communist League and ANC Youth League members form the NYDA leadership structure. I don't know how accurate this statement is, but my thought would be that surely we should be looking at reforming the NYDA if it is not being what it needs to be for the youth.
When it comes to the subject of another Ministry, I must admit that I am totally sceptical. My reason is that I don't see how a Ministry will be any different. We have the example of another wonderful idea, called the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. All it does is look at what others are supposed to be doing and it spends huge amounts of money on salaries for a Minister, Deputy Minister, staff, cars, offices, overseas trips, etc. Not one cent goes to actually improving the lives of women, children and people with disabilities.
Looking beyond all this to the incredible potential of youth, I was reminded this week, via Twitter, that Bill Gates was 20 years old, Steve Jobs was 21, Warren Buffett was 26, Ralph Lauren 28 and Este Lauder was 29 when they started the companies that became some of the biggest successes ever known. While talent is a factor, persistence, passion and the willingness to stay up all night, working, are probably what really makes the difference between an employee and an entrepreneur.
I just have to say one more thing to those who have turned 30 and are just a little depressed by my input: Do not write yourselves off. Remember, Thomas Edison didn't invent the phonograph until he was 30 and Colonel Sanders didn't create Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was 70.
Chairperson, there seems to be consensus that we need to invest in our youth for us to see sustainable economic growth, but more often this consensus appears to be no more than lip service among decision- makers. Not much political will accompanies the rhetoric. If there were political will, I argue that we would by now have seen significant change in youth unemployment. Yet this has not happened, despite the professing of commitment, year in and year out.
Our President rarely misses an opportunity to speak about skills development and youth unemployment, like when he addressed the Commonwealth Conference on Education and Training of Youth Workers. He fluently articulated the issues affecting our youth, unemployment and empowerment, HIV and Aids, crime, poverty, worsening inequality, etc. However, his addresses become blurry on the strategies to be employed in addressing these challenges. We are probably worse off now than this time last year, when we look at the status quo of our youth.
We find a very sad state of affairs indeed when we consider our youth, who are our future. If we do not invest in our youth, we are disregarding our future. That would make us selfish people who do not care about what shall befall our land in the future. We are in fact robbing this land of a future. Statistics showing that more than 40% of those under the age of 30 are unemployed is a shame.
The patronising and paternalistic echoes that say that the youth must work hard are essentially passing the buck when you consider the poor state that our education system is in right now. It seems that getting a university pass is reserved for the exceptionally gifted, while the rest can just fall through the cracks.
Be that as it may, the significant increase in funding for further education and training colleges is indeed a promising step in a desirable direction. As we commit to creating jobs for our youth, we must equally commit to skilling them and ensuring that they are employable.
Similarly, the allocation of R800 million by Treasury to South Africa's green economy fund is also a light at the end of the tunnel, should its aim of providing job-creating green economy projects be attained. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, from the onset the PAC wants to set the record straight. For us, there is no need for semantics; for playing with fancy words and seeking attention. Soweto uprising day, 16 June, will remain so in our hearts forever more, no matter what the official calendar says. Sharpeville and Langa day - 21 March - will also remain so till the end of time. The same people in our land who celebrate the 1917 Russian October revolution have the audacity to distort and mutilate our history to achieve their narrow political interests. They are hypocrites!
The first sparks of upheaval ignited in Soweto and later engulfed the whole country. Bantu education was challenged in its entirety and the Afrikaans language was opposed as a medium of instruction. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the undying memory of Tsietsi Mashinini, Khotso Seatlholo and the multitude of heroic young people who tamed the colonial settler beast.
Today, most of the people who faced guns and teargas with bare hands in 1976 are living in abject poverty. They need help to turn their lives around, as they are the true custodians of the freedom we enjoy today. We are guilty of consigning our heroes to the garbage bin of history.
Today's youth are shackled and caged. Before we can promise them paradise on earth, we must free them or help them to free themselves from the clutches of landlessness, miseducation, ill health, joblessness, drugs, political patronage and economic blackmail. We need to liberate our youth from the scourge of nyaope, tik, mandrax and alcohol in our communities. Our laws are very lenient towards drug lords. We have failed our youth in many respects. For instance, we gather in this House and legalise gambling. Then we leave this House shedding crocodile tears because our young people are addicted to gambling.
We promised our youth economic liberation in our lifetime. How can people be economically liberated when they are still recipients of food parcels, especially on the eve of elections? [Time expired.]
Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon Members of Parliament, I must start by saying that I am highly honoured to be one of the youth of the ANC. In fact, I am blessed to be a young person who belongs to the ruling party today. This means that my ideological orientation classifies the economical understanding and shapes the ideology and vision of the ANC. So, having said that, I am very happy to be a member of the ANC.
When we speak about the month of June, we think about militancy, vibrancy and young people who have energy. From where I am sitting, we are thinking about the likes of Ephraim Nkoe, Barney Molokoane, Pixley ka Seme, Tsietsi Mashinini and Hector Pieterson, who was shot at a young age during those times.
For too long our country contained and represented much that is ugly and repulsive in human society. It was a place where to be born black was to inherit a lifelong curse. It was a place where to be born white was to carry a permanent burden of fear and hidden rage.
Today's violence is rooted in history. It is the ghost of apartheid that has come back to haunt its creators. One must look at that legacy to understand this upsurge in violence. It has bred social deprivation, fostering frustration and the potential for violence. This does not always take the form of political violence, but permeates society through an increase in the rate of crime, murder, rape, wife battery and child abuse.
The ANC condemns in the harshest possible terms the recent spates of violence in Port Elizabeth, Diepsloot in Sedibeng, and Orange Farm. These incidents have seen, among other events, the looting of shops, the displacement of foreign nationals and other incidents of public violence in these communities.
The incidents of xenophobic violence in 2008 are a lesson all of us should constantly draw from to foster unity and cohesion among our communities. Regardless of what the cause of these violent protests may be, the ANC condemns any attacks on members of society, irrespective of nationality. [Applause.]
We further expect the SA Police Service to act decisively and with sternness against people who are involved in acts of vandalism, intimidation or any other type of public disorder. All stakeholders in society must be part of the solution and must exercise restraint when dealing with these matters to ensure that none among us exacerbates the situation by escalating tensions in an already sensitive situation.
I would like to draw the attention of the House and the audience to the family of Tshetlo, who lived at house number 151 in Chiawelo. Here a grandson killed his 92-year-old grandmother for grant money. He took the R2 400 and locked the grandmother in the house because he was addicted to nyaope. Having said that, it is important also to acknowledge that the police reacted swiftly and ensured that he was put behind bars. It is important for us to tell the police that we acknowledge their swift action. [Applause.]
We must follow in the footsteps of previous generations of revolutionary youth. Young people in the democratic movement should be at the forefront of defending the gains of the revolution and accelerating development. As former President uTata Rholihlahla Mandela put it in May 1994:
The youth of our country are the valued possession of the nation. Without them there can be no future. Their needs are immense and urgent. They are at the centre of our reconstruction and development plan.
There is a great need to liberate the minds of young people of all races. An entry point would be an approach that is not necessarily academic or scientific but rather an immediate response to the socioeconomic and political realities faced by our young people. Though a generalisation, this contribution is meant to further inspire constructive debate towards a secure future for our country, Africa and the world. One's youth is not a time in life but a state of mind. The youth is better positioned than any other social stratum to be entrusted with and be prepared for the responsibilities of the future.
Former ANC president uTata Oliver Reginald Tambo said:
Any nation that does not value its youth does not have a future. It is the nation that makes a good investment in its youth that can expect positive returns. We've learned that 'pain now is a payment in future'.
In 2009, at the beginning of our term, President Jacob Zuma said:
For as long as there are children who do not have the means or the opportunity to receive a decent education, we shall not rest, and we dare not falter, in our drive to eradicate poverty.
In pursuance of this commitment, and as part of our quest to fight the root causes of poverty - intergenerational poverty in particular - we identified the provision of early childhood development as key to our success in achieving the goals of the National Development Plan Vision 2030. In 2010, we committed ourselves to expand ECD services. Many of the changes we promised have since been implemented. To date, over 900 000 children have benefited from this programme and we are on course to deliver on our mandate to provide universal ECD services by 2014.
I am pleased to report that there has been a 12% growth in university enrolment, from 837 000 in 2009 to 938 000 in 2011, which is in line with the aim to increase total enrolment to 1,62 million by 2030, as envisaged by the National Development Plan. Overall, the number of university graduates for this period has also increased, by 11%. In the current financial year alone, the Department of Social Development has awarded bursaries to 2 037 students.
However, the democratic South Africa is mindful of the fact that the white youth feel marginalised in the democratic South Africa. We are therefore calling for their inclusion and patriotism in the affairs of youth and activism. White South Africans should not want to be treated differently in the democratic South Africa. The reality is that the ANC fought for the nonracial democratic society in South Africa. Having been saved from the shackles of apartheid, as young people we cannot allow ourselves to be racialised as a means to give us some sense of being part of a group. We belong to the youth of South Africa, in South Africa. Therefore, we are Africans in general. [Applause.]
I am calling out to the white youth to say that there is a space for you in which to be patriotic and able to be part of the society that we are trying to build for a better life for all. There is a peace here that has been achieved. [Applause.] You can't want to be treated as a minority and as young people of a certain segregated group. We are Africans in South Africa! That must be noted!
We have embarked on an extensive programme to attack poverty on all fronts. The institutions of economic co-operation acknowledge the notable progress we have made. Today, unlike under the apartheid regime, all our children, black and white, from the young girl in Muyexe in Limpopo to the teenage girl in Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal, have access to educational opportunities and a social safety net. The social assistance programme now reaches over 16 million beneficiaries.
From the early wars of resistance, the youth fearlessly swelled the ranks of the armies of our people under the leadership of Bhambatha, Moshoeshoe, Hintsa and the many other leaders of our people. It was through the courage of the youth that the leaders of our people knew that they were engaged in a cause that was bound to succeed. It was thanks to those soldiers who fearlessly engaged and triumphed over the enemy in the Battle of Isandlwana and on many other fronts that the wheels of revolution began to gather pace.
The military skills development initiative is yet another initiative of the ANC government aimed at providing the young person with the necessary skills for labour-market readiness. Specifically, this programme prepares new recruits for the SA Navy. They are equipped with skills ranging from seamanship, environmental awareness, musketry, computer skills, basic financial management skills and hygiene to discipline and work ethics.
Young but brave, the youth may not be forgotten for their swift response to the call to mobilise and organise our people. It is in this spirit of selflessness ... [Inaudible.] [Interjections.]
As I conclude, I would like to draw attention to the DA youth and say that we cannot ever have young people who rape other young people in society. [Interjections.] That can never be tolerated! [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Order! I want to bring to the attention of this House that there is too much loud talking and laughing from this corner. Please be quiet, hon members. I do hope that you will have the decency to listen to your own member.
Chairperson, this debate is in honour and remembrance of the youth of 1976, who rose against the system that left them fundamentally excluded, cut out and isolated. In that context, a brutal government used a language of instruction in schools to alienate and disenfranchise the youth. The apartheid government underestimated the ability of the angry youth to agitate for change and eventually to overthrow an entire system.
Today, South Africa's youth is excluded and disenfranchised, not by language but by a government and a ruling party that has put politics above people. Young people need to feel that they have a stake in our society; that they can be part of and contribute to the building of our country. They need to feel government is for them; in their corner; working day and night to ensure that they have a better chance in life.
The DA and the ANC agree that the only sustainable way to build an inclusive economy is to sustainably grow the economy and to create jobs. We agree on that end but the particular tragedy of the last four years of the ANC-led government is the complete inability of the ruling party to agree on the means. The paralysing divisions in the ruling alliance have meant that the government has been unable to implement even a single policy initiative aimed at breaking down the dividing barriers in our economy.
Today it is 1 209 days since President Jacob Zuma stood on this very podium and announced the introduction of the youth wage subsidy, a plan to give young South Africans a chance to get their first job and start on the pathway out of poverty. How can young South Africans take anything the President says from this podium seriously ever again? How could the President come here and make a concrete promise to the country, and specifically to the youth, and then turn his back on them so spectacularly? Why did he come here and make that commitment if he knew he did not have support from his own benches? That was massively disrespectful to young South Africans.
Today the Deputy Minister announced that the R5 billion budgeted for the youth wage subsidy is no longer there. It is gone. It was a shocking announcement, hidden in his speech. He says it will now be used to fund the youth employment accord. This is surely a huge slap in the face of the national Treasury and the Minister of Finance.
However, this is typical of the complete confusion around this issue for the past three years. First the President announced it, then the Minister of Economic Development decried it. The Minister of Finance announced it, the secretary-general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions decried it, then the President re-announced it and today the Deputy Minister redecried it. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
If the President had implemented it when he first said he would, the programme would already have benefited more than 440 000 young people. Where the DA governs, we did not need to have any paralysing internal political battle about an obviously sensible solution. We saw the crisis, we saw the urgent need for intervention and we acted. Where the DA governs, we implemented our version of the youth wage subsidy as soon as we possibly could and thousands of young people have already benefited. They are starting to build a more prosperous future for themselves in sustainable, decent jobs. [Interjections.] I want to make a commitment today to all young South Africans and to my colleagues in the ANC benches. Here, from this podium, is a promise that young South Africans can rely on. Wherever the DA is elected to government in South Africa, we will immediately implement the youth wage subsidy. [Applause.] If we are elected to govern in Gauteng in 2014 - or should I say "when" - we will implement the youth wage subsidy on day one. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
Let me come to hon Manamela, who is obviously speaking after me, unfortunately. One would think the point of the youth employment accord is very clear and simple: to provide a real plan for job creation for young people, hon Manamela. Here is a crisis; here is a solution: We need to create jobs. But I think the hon Manamela let slip the real point of the youth employment accord in this House earlier this year, speaking in no less a debate than the debate on the state of the nation address, when he said, "As the ANC, we believe the Youth Accord speaks to the call for ..." - no, not jobs - "... unity, compromise and consensus." [Interjections.] In his own words, there it is. There is the truth.
Weak, weak, weak!
Weak, weak, weak indeed! [Laughter.] The youth employment accord has nothing to do with jobs for young people, as hon Manamela said. It has everything to do with keeping this party together. It is all about unity inside the ANC. It is all about keeping the warring factions happy and at peace; not about jobs for the youth. It is about politics over people and he said so in the debate on the state of the nation address.
Speaking a little bit later about his "bigger" alternative, he says they reject the youth wage subsidy but - in the face of a real, concrete policy proposal that is on the table and will create jobs now, which is the policy of my party: the youth wage subsidy - hon Manamela's alternative is: "We need to make education fashionable." [Interjections.] In the midst of 7 million unemployed youth in this country, hon Manamela's alternative to the youth wage subsidy is to make education "fashionable". [Interjections.] I say you should get real. I think the young people of South Africa should vote for the DA because next year we will implement the youth wage subsidy. You never will. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Ayesaba amagwala. [Cowards are afraid.]
Chair, I think you should not even have called me because my turn to speak was so dearly announced by the hon Hill-Lewis, with such an ovation and a red carpet, basically praising everything I have said in the past. [Laughter.] [Applause.] The hon Mnqasela says young people are tired of speeches, yet he is giving a speech. [Laughter.] Let's forgive him because you cannot say that young people are sick and tired of listening to speeches when you yourself come to this House to give nothing short of a speech.
As we celebrate the 37th anniversary of 16 June, I ask that the House also joins in celebrating the 34th anniversary of the Congress of South African Students, Cosas, which was born out of the struggles of Soweto 1976. [Applause.] Cosas was instrumental in introducing many cadres of our movement - some of them are members of this august House - into political activism and the demand for social justice and an end to apartheid.
We wish Cosas all the best as they venture into new forms of organising and rallying young people and students in the fight against drugs, teenage pregnancy and for quality public education for all. A celebration of 16 June should not only be about flowery speeches - yes, we agree - national rallies or annual pilgrimages to the Hector Pieterson Memorial. June 16, for all young people and for the ANC as the ruling party, should also be about the goals those young people sought to achieve on that particular day. We owe it to that generation of young people - and many others who came before and after 1976 and boldly put a mark in the long struggle against apartheid - to reflect the significance of their struggle and whether the current generation of young people lives up to their dreams, ambitions and vision of a better South Africa.
June 16 was not only about resistance to language use in schools, which was unilaterally imposed by the apartheid government on students in order to augment their colonisation and oppression, but it was also about economic freedom and equality in a better South Africa for all. June 16 was about change.
In the last 20 years since the dawn of democracy, the four successive Presidents of our country have led this project for change. The laws that had marginalised the black, Indian and coloured youth, in particular from fully participating in the economy, have been changed. In theory, all South African youth have equal opportunities.
However, since 1994 the levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality and economic injustice still remain, mainly due to the negotiated nature of our transition and the resistance of the dominant economic forces to change. At the heart of changing the lives of millions of our people lies the economy and, therefore, economic transformation and ownership.
It is through this that millions of young people will see the value of democracy and appreciate the struggle against apartheid and injustice. We will not stop blaming apartheid for our current misery, for we inherited the same poverty it imposed on our parents and their parents. We fully agree that young people should be seen as their own liberators and they should be mobilised into action to change the conditions in which they find themselves. The question of ownership and control of land and mineral resources, as well as the skewed racial patterns that persist to this day, remain indefensible and continues to fuel racial and, inevitably, economic tensions in our society. This June 16 must be about the economic ownership and control of the major resources of our country by all the people, equally.
This government has done more in 20 years than any other government could have in more than three centuries. [Applause.] Although the hallmarks of an apartheid society are still prevalent, our youth are not subjected to the same levels of exploitation, segregation, oppression, abuse, influx control or prejudice as was experienced by their parents. [Interjections.]
Therefore, if ever there was a time to be a young person, it is this time, the one we are living in, as the current youth and as the current generation. For the young at heart and the young as defined by age, this is a time when our country's young people are searching for fresher solutions to the challenges of human modernity.
It is at this time, just as many other postcolonial and neocolonial countries did in their own time, that we begin to ask the questions, such as whether those who secured our democracy 20 years ago built a future that we should all be proud of. It is at this time that we ask the pertinent question: Is this what Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo, Hani, Slovo, Kathrada, Motsoaledi, Goldberg and many others sacrificed their youth for and even paid for dearly with their lives?
But it is also a time when we are called to action to remove the faulty bricks of our democratic accord in order to reshape our country, our economy and our lives to resemble what the generation of leaders had imagined. You would have noticed that when I mentioned those who dedicated their lives to the freedom of this country, there was no one who belonged to the so-called Progressive Party or whatever the DA used to be called in the past. [Interjections.]
I think it is important that we reiterate the fact that there were people who lost their lives for the freedom that we have. People who try to claim and hijack that history in order to put on the mantle of being freedom fighters must be dealt with. We cannot let that continue. [Applause.] The so-called campaign by the DA to wrong the rights of history; the so-called "know your DA history", whose main intention is to pull the wool over the eyes of our youth, can and will never, ever succeed.
The youth can see what is happening in the Western Cape and the youth do not want to see it repeated in other parts of this country. The dream that the DA will take Gauteng is a pipe dream. In fact, when many young people in Gauteng hear this dream, which you always purport, you make them suffer a thousand nightmares. [Applause.] We also say that this is the time when hopelessness breeds not contempt for both our historical oppressors and those who continue to benefit from the foundation they laid but pragmatism and drastic changes to the social, political and economic superstructure that still resembles the past.
This generation, whose birth pains were cleansed with tears of joy over a dawning democracy, a free Mandela, returning exiles and universal suffrage, faces the complex challenge of ensuring that it builds a future whose past can be seen in the scars on the faces and lives of those who came before. Many have been persuaded that they can do it, irrespective of the odds imposed on them by historical injustices and they have succeeded against all these odds. However, many are struggling to make ends meet and many are still lingering in hopelessness, servitude and poverty. It is this youth that we should speak for and ensure that our democratic institutions work for them.
One of the historical imprints of the past was the forced removal and movement of black people from the rural and sustenance economy to go and build the newly sprouting, glittering gold and diamond industry of Johannesburg and other metropolises. This movement has not stopped and has created a culture of urbanisation among the South African youth. As soon as they complete their schooling and because they see no future in the rural economy, they leave for the city. For this, the people in the Western Cape, in particular the premier of the Western Cape, calls them refugees, unfortunately. [Interjections.] It is millions of young people who have populated the informal settlements, townships and city streets in search of quality livelihoods, employment and skills institutions to have a bite of the apple of freedom. Many of them succeed and in desperation take up odd jobs in the mines, kitchens, gardens and corner shops, in the streets as vendors, in the construction industry and some in the main economic industries.
Others fail, unfortunately and, in the quest for the South African dream and miracle, they end up trafficking drugs, as prostitutes, carjackers, ATM swindlers or pickpockets and are unfortunately destined for a life in prison or an early meeting with the undertaker. This has also resulted in more than 120 service delivery protests nationally, because the urban municipalities are unable to cope with the demands imposed on their infrastructure.
Yes, our people have the right and freedom to move and should not be constrained and contained far away from urban life. Rural life needs to be improved. In the absence of opportunities and the possibility of a better life in the rural areas, these young people, although they are being forced in a nonviolent manner, obviously migrate to a city centre.
Our government has to invest more resources in the development of our communities in rural areas. We have to invest in agricultural skills and also skills needed for the building of quality housing, electricity, water, sanitation and all those amenities that are available in the urban areas. More importantly, we have to support government's National Rural Youth Service Corps programme, which is led by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, and also the National Youth Service, which is led by the National Youth Development Agency.
There are a lot of young people who have capacity and skills and have been trained by this government in agricultural science and all those skills. We need to invest in those young people so that they are able to contribute towards food production and food security for our economy.
For us to halt this migration of young people into urban areas, which pushes them into informal settlements and squatter camps, we have to support all the government policies and interventions, including the National Development Plan and the Industrial Policy Action Plan. In the same vein, we should remain critical of reports that there is huge wastage when it comes to the whole issue of food security.
Thousands of young people have also thronged to FET institutions as a result of the call made by the Minister of Higher Education that the state will pay for their bursaries in full. We believe that this is one of the things we need to invest in. It will call young people to go to those institutions as part of making education fashionable. There's nothing criminal about calling for education to be made fashionable. We think that collectively, with our communities, we should ensure that young people love their education. We think that is critical.
For some time we've been listening to the call that there is a need for a youth ministry. This is a debate that has existed. However, in its place there is the NYDA. We are not of the view that youth development should be compartmentalised into a single ministry. Every government department has a responsibility for every young person in this country. [Applause.] Every government department must ensure that it integrates its work and synchronises it with the youth development strategy that has been put into place. Therefore, we do not think that a single youth ministry will resolve the major problems confronting young people.
The NYDA is not an ANC Youth League or a Young Communist League institution, as alleged by the letter that was read by the hon member from the ACDP. It is politically representative. There is new leadership, and Parliament collectively participated in its appointment. It has already addressed Parliament and the Presidency on the kinds of change and intervention that it seeks to realise.
We must emphasise that as the ANC we will be the first to protest should the NYDA seek to represent particular, singular political issues or organisations. We will be the first to say that the NYDA belongs to all the young people in this country, irrespective of political affiliation. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
The DA started in this House with the statement that they did not support the youth employment accord and that it has failed. We are quite shocked that the DA would say that because the leader of the DA youth is a core signatory of the youth employment accord. Some of the members, who are sitting on these benches, representing the DA, spoke out in support of the youth employment accord. [Interjections.]
We have consistently said that we cannot look at any intervention that relates to resolving the youth employment crisis as a silver bullet. We will have to look at collective proposals that have been put into place - and those collective proposals are contained in the youth employment accord. It includes the business sector, civil society, trade unions and government, as well as the leader of the DA youth. [Interjections.]
To narrowly suggest that whatever problems are confronting young people will be resolved by the youth employment accord is a sham and merely an election campaign. [Time expired.]. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.