Deputy Speaker, a warm welcome to all our youth in the gallery. I, as a Member of Parliament, indeed feel fortunate to serve on this newly-elected steering committee for the Youth Parliament, under the leadership of our young chairperson, Mr Manana. I experience, as do all the other members, a refreshing culture of willingness and vibrancy to make a difference in the lives of all our young people.
Public participation is a constitutional imperative. We could witness the effect of this when our youth took the opportunity to participate in the work of Parliament, sharing their concerns and successes with us today.
The theme for 2011's youth month is "A caring Parliament that advances youth development to achieve economic freedom". Four topics have been put forward for discussion. They are: improving the quality of life of youth; drug abuse - is rehabilitation working; youth and economic freedom; and youth and skills development.
We are all aware that our country is facing many difficult challenges. It is therefore imperative that we take effective action to curb the many social ills. It is a known fact that we need to implement durable solutions that hold promise and sustainability for long-term change and development, especially for youth.
Today I was deeply moved to hear the voices of the youth of South Africa. It is pleasing that platforms are created to devise effective solutions that involve the youth. In the Youth Parliament earlier, Reagen Allen pointed out that a stable family life is something that we should all uphold and anything that militates against this, including drug abuse, is not good. The abuse of drugs and alcohol is known to corrode family relationships, which will hamper the youth in taking hold of opportunities presented to them.
He also said many young people grew up with little hope. If we fail to implement policy resolutions, then we will be taking the last hope away from many young people, which will be to the detriment of future generations; and I absolutely agree with him.
Another young person said that support structures after rehabilitation are not working due to the fact that when the youth are integrated back into their community, very few, if any, support structures or therapy exist if they fall back into their addiction.
There is also a cry for access to rehabilitation centres in the rural areas. Saldanha on the West Coast has the fourth highest percentage of drug abuse in the country and there are no rehabilitation centres. So I really appeal to Parliament and the departments to give attention to that.
The youth also stated today that there is very little access to rehabilitation centres in the rural areas, so the problem is wider than Saldanha. Family consultation must be deployed from the rehabilitation centres to families of addicts. Preventative programmes should play a fundamental role through education and training to assist the youth not to indulge in drug abuse. One of the young participants also mentioned that national security and our Defence Force should intensify their efforts to stop the influx of drugs into our country. This means that our airlines and sea borders should be better controlled.
These were some of the remarks and due to time constraints I cannot add more. However, I wish to leave a message with all our young people here today, regardless of the political party, race group, gender, religion or cultural background they come from.
To them I want to say the following: By accepting and acknowledging the fact that we are a diverse nation and that we have one of the best constitutions in the world, which gives us our freedom, we can at least stand united to overcome and address these challenges. So, as the youth, this is now your time to make a difference.
Start with yourself as individuals, do true introspection, be honest with yourself, believe in yourself, your uniqueness, your purpose in life, and make a commitment to subscribe to the values of our Constitution, namely human dignity, equality, advancement of human rights and freedom, nonracialism and nonsexism.
By internalising this common set of values, it brings us opportunities for proactively addressing the backlog with regard to the challenges that continue to bring misery into the lives of all our communities, and especially our youth. Have the courage to rise above the struggle of the past. It is the right thing to do within the context of the fact that we cannot change the past, but we can build a prosperous future for our diverse nation and especially for our youth. Enkosi. [Thank you.]