Chairperson, the problem of youth unemployment has to be addressed as a matter of urgency in order to reduce the number of frustrated, unemployed youth taking part in violent service delivery protests.
Skills development has to be one of government's top priorities if economic freedom is to be achieved among our young people.
When one looks at how the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, wasted more than R100 million of taxpayers' money on last year's World Youth Festival, which did not help to create any sustainable employment, one cannot see how their current budget of R385,9 million will be used to help create the much needed jobs.
Government must be more directly involved in the programmes of the NYDA to ensure that their main focus will be on job creation and not festivals, partying and talk shops.
The problem of drug abuse and addiction is a serious threat to youth development in our country. If it is not successfully addressed, our dream of achieving economic freedom for our youth might not be realised. The ADCP believes that without government's unwavering commitment to eradicating drug trafficking in our country, the future of our youth is in jeopardy.
Government urgently needs a Minister of State Security who will ensure that our children and youth are protected from drugs. Drug traffickers must be arrested and illegal drug laboratories in our country shut down.
If government's intelligence department is worth its salt, then its officers must be able to trace all these drugs and find out where they are coming from and arrest couriers and manufacturers who are destroying the future of our children.
The ACDP wants to see educated, skilled and employed youth of South Africa who are free from drugs. This can only be possible if government uses all available state machinery to crush all drug trafficking in our country. I believe that the war on drugs can be won, if government has the political will to win it.
To ensure that the revolution the Cosatu general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, spoke about does not happen and also that what he refers to as "a ticking time bomb" does not explode, government must make radical decisions, such as reprioritising its budget allocation to ensure that training and development programmes directed at idle and loitering youth are fast-tracked.
Unemployed youth have plenty of time and energy that must be harnessed. If a caring Parliament does not help our youth to invest their time wisely and direct their energy towards building our economy, then they will not be able to achieve the economic freedom that we are all aspiring to. Thank you.