House Chairperson and hon members. Let me start by saying, "Feel it, it is here, South Africa".
This debate takes place 34 years after the 1976 Soweto uprisings which was one of the most political activities that had been seen in this country. These uprisings were led by young people who proved beyond doubt that the young person can be a dedicated builder of a society, can achieve that and can give all his life to achieve the needs of the society.
We depart from this debate today by saying that the announcement of the hosting for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which took place in Zurich in May 2004, was awaited with bated bread breath by all South Africans. When Fifa President Sepp Blatter finally announced that for the first time in history this event will be held on African soil, in South Africa to be exact, we all ululated in joy as we were predicting that it was a rare opportunity that would bring about change in many ways to South Africans than ever expected. Every young person in this country across the urban and rural divide started to pent their respective goals to be achieved taking advantage of this big event ever to come to their land. There were dreams for some to do unique artwork which would get tourists to empty their pockets; others were banking on exposure for their poorly marketed tourist attractions which would make better profits if tourists visited them.
Amongst those who had hopes and wishes were the unemployed young graduates ranging from engineers, architects, artisans and many more, who were counting on this event to create sustainable jobs.
On 10 May 2004, the Deputy President of South Africa, hon Jacob Zuma, addressing a 2010 World Cup bid farewell banquet, said:
The benefits of this project to our nation to be so enormous that would take the whole evening outlining what contribution does hosting the World Cup mean and what would it make of our programme to alleviate poverty, creating jobs and generally in social upliftment.
He further said:
The economic spin-offs of this tournament for Southern African Development Community, SADC, region are enormous as well; and it will fit in with our objectives of working for a sustainable development, not only of our country but for our continent as well. Our victory is, therefore, a victory of our sister countries in this region as well.
Indeed, Africa is celebrating this big event taking place in its shores but the critical question that must be asked first is, "Are young people in this country having anything to celebrate or to show for South Africa hosting this event? This event, through its own legacy, must be able to respond to this critical question confronting the young people of this country.
In our attempt to respond to this question, we must be able to understand that the legacy of this event cannot just be limited to infrastructural development. When bidding for this event, however, the creation of jobs, alleviation of poverty, etc, were the anticipated benefits.
We believe that the conditions of young people in this country in just nine days before the kick-off are as they were six years ago when we were still bidding to host this event. This clearly demonstrates how we treat matters concerning young people's interest as secondary and this is a serious indictment to all of us in this august House.
This World Cup event was an amazing opportunity to expose our young people's talent, skills and uniqueness but, again, little has been done in this regard. Our young people remain at the periphery in as far as benefiting from this event is concerned.
The fanfare that characterised the hosting of this event by South Africa has been short-lived for our young people. Many of our youth in rural areas, when on 11 June match starts between South Africa and Mexico, will not have anything to show for it because no mechanisms will have been devised to ensure that this event is enjoyed by all South African young people from host cities and non-hosting cities across the country.
This is despite the fact that sport and recreation offer a sense of hope and can make dreams a reality in many instances. Our rural youth continue to yearn for sporting facilities in order to fulfil their dreams of playing at the professional level, but their last hope that having the 2010 Fifa World Cup hosted in South Africa would change the situation for the better has, yet, to yield results as awaited.
It is our view that sport has deep roots within South Africa, especially within disadvantaged communities where violence and crime are most evident. It is therefore essential for South Africa to wake up and see this critical link and indeed make use of it. Sport has the ability to join the separate parts of this nation and get rid of social evils that are destroying our young people and the legacy that we have inherited. It is in this regard that we must remember how the 1996 World Cup united South African people beyond party and racial lines.
Sport possesses a special power and the capacity to change a person's life by improving psychological and physical wellbeing. It offers a sense of belonging and connectedness to orphans, street children; it teaches teamwork, sharing, discipline and respect for playing by the rules. Sport is, indeed, a universal language that can help bridge the divides and promote core values necessary for lasting peace in our society.
On the playing field, cultural differences and political agendas dissolve and melt away. This is the most magical thing that sport can do in our society. Sport is therefore a tool with which we can create unity and transcend racial barriers, as was beautifully depicted on last Saturday when the Blue Bulls were playing at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. It was something that was making history for the first time in this country.
Through hosting this World Cup, our government should adopt a new strategy to advance youth development through sport as this will deal with a lot of the socioeconomic conditions that are faced by young people in this country. At the centre of this agenda should be the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, which has a duty to advocate this.
We wish all South African players in the Bafana Bafana team good luck and we are fully behind them.