We commemorate Youth Month and Youth Day as the direct result of the events of 16 June 1976. As we do so, I would like us to remember and give thought to the words uttered by Mrs Nombulelo Makhubu, mother to Mbuyisa Makhubu, an 18-year-old boy who carried a dying Hector Peterson.
Mma Makhubu said that Mbuyisa is or was her son -
... but he is not a hero. In my culture picking up Hector wasn't an act of heroism, it was his job as a brother. If he would have left Hector on the ground and someone saw him jumping over him, he would have never been able to live here.
I stated Mma Makhubu's words because we need more Mbuyisas in the youth of our country - more than we ever did before. Picking Hector up was not an act of heroism, but an act of brotherhood that characterised the youth of that era. The challenges that the youth fought against then still persist today, probably in a different form and manner.
Our youth face unemployment and poverty, but instead of seeing the legacy of brotherhood left by Mbuyisa and his likes, we see youth leaders who are so self-absorbed, greedy and corrupt that they cannot pause for a moment and pay attention to the plight of their brothers and sisters. They enrich themselves with corrupt gains from tenders and cannot see the poverty that is killing their counterparts.
This month, we pray for a consciousness that would recall the sacrifices of the youth of yesteryear and the richness that comes from laying your life down for your fellow. We pray for youth leaders that do not claim to be heroes and leaders when they could not pick up a dying Hector. I thank you. [Applause.]