Chairperson, there are many challenges facing the South African youth, ranging from a high crime rate; the burden of disease manifested mainly, but not solely, through HIV and Aids; access to higher education; and many others.
The theme of this debate is "A caring Parliament that advances youth development to achieve economic freedom". The question of youth unemployment is central to this debate.
It is disheartening to learn that one in two young South Africans and two out of three young African women are unemployed. It is said that the unemployment rate among 15- to 24-year-olds is 51%, which is more than double the national unemployment rate of 25%.
Coupled with this is the increase in numbers of people relying on social assistance grants. The picture is made even grimmer when you read that the average jobs created by government programmes last about 46 days!
There are other very interesting dynamics relating to the issue of youth unemployment that need to be addressed. For instance, it is interesting to note that unemployment is reported to be at the highest amongst young African women. It stands at 63%, while amongst coloured youths it is 47%; 23% amongst Indian youths; and standing at 21% amongst white youths, which is the lowest amongst all these groups.
It appears that race, gender, age, location and schooling remain key in the explanations of the high youth unemployment rate. We cannot escape the fact that the failure of the education system to produce employable school leavers plays an even bigger role in this scenario. Therefore it is important to differentiate between "unemployed" and "unemployable".
If Parliament is to play a role in youth development, with a focus on unemployment - which is key and central to youth economic freedom - we should then review the legislative issues as they relate to unemployment. Parliament should exercise the budgetary powers available to it and play its oversight role effectively over the executive.
It should monitor and evaluate how the government departments are channelling their resources towards addressing youth unemployment through decent job creation, and not the temporary measures that seem to be largely used.
The proposal of a youth employment subsidy needs to be discussed extensively and widely researched in order to establish their impact and viability, as we cannot afford to waste resources on techniques that have not been proven or tested.
The question of skills development cannot be left out in this process of redress. Therefore, we must evaluate the role that government is playing in skilling our youth, and whether the skills development programmes currently being used are assisting in converting the unemployable into at least being the skilled unemployed.
The public sector must commit itself to the creation of jobs for the youth and should desist from creating temporary jobs that are said to last an average of 46 days, as this kills youth morale in the longer term.
Parliament must play a much more active oversight, monitoring and evaluation role in order to ensure that the National Youth Development Agency delivers upon its mandate, as well as other youth agencies tasked with the development of our youth.
Re le UCDP, ra re ntime o mphele ngwana. Re bo re boa gape re re "kgakalakgolo ga kena mabala, mebala e dikgakaneng". Ke a leboga. [Legofi.] [As the UCDP, we believe in prioritising for the basic needs of the child. We also say: "The beauty or wellbeing of the parents is reflected in their child." Thank you. [Applause.]]