Hon House Chair, you know, comrades, we should not waste time with semantics. No one disagrees with the fact that, in terms of revenue allocation, education is a priority in South Africa. But, where we disagree is on the question whether we are getting returns on investment. As soon as we do not agree on that ...
... siza kuba nengxaki kuba uza kufumanisa ukuba... [... we are going to have a problem because you will find that ...]
... we are only going to regurgitate our manifesto, without addressing the problem. The fact of the matter is ...
... asifumani sivuno kutyalo-mali kwaye sisemsileni kwizifundo zezibalo nezenzululwazi kwilizwekazi i-Afrika. [... we do not get any returns on our investment and we are far behind in mathematics and science subjects throughout the African continent.]
We cannot celebrate that. That is a fact.
June 16 1976 signifies the contribution of the youth in the fight for the self-evident right to determine our own destiny. The youth of 1976 fought bravely to disentangle ourselves from the apartheid regime's oppressive entanglements. We owe this generation a big debt of gratitude for the freedom we are now enjoying.
Fellow compatriots, in remembering the heroism of the youth of 1976, we should first consider the appropriateness of the fiery and dramatic start to the fifth democratic Parliament last week, where pelting each other with a litany of expletives seemed to take the place of a meaningful discourse and the economic advancement of our people.
If we allow mud-slinging and name-calling to become a permanent interlude, instead of a meaningful discourse, we run the risk of going down as the generation of leaders that derives a perverse pleasure from behaving in ways that constitute a perversion of the true meaning of democracy - the same democracy for which the generation of 1976 fought.
We should therefore get all hands on deck to come up with proposals that ensure the building of a truly better life for all, especially the youth. We should focus on the youth, because 20 years into our democracy, the youth face a kaleidoscope of new challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and alcohol and drug abuse.
The UDM believes that advancing youth development should not only be to reduce the red tape that stifles youth entrepreneurship and introduces targeted incentives that are critical in job creation for youth, but youth development finance institutions should also be compelled to help young entrepreneurs to meet their conditions for finance agreements. This is the only way to close the big gap between loan approval and loan disbursement rates for youth.
On skills development, we believe that government should work with the private sector and forge a closer working relationship with tertiary institutions to improve both the work-readiness of graduates and the quality of internship programmes. It is futile to place thousands of young people in internships around the country if all they do is to make photocopies and fax documents for the duration of their internships.
As a nation, if we fail to prioritise youth development and empowerment, we will continue to carry the heavy load that is filled with the detritus of an unhappy youth. Thank you very much. [Applause.]