Order! I now wish to invite the hon Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration. [Applause.] The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION: Speaker; His Excellency President Jacob Zuma; hon Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe; hon Minister Collins Chabane; hon Minister Trevor Manuel, who is still outside; Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Mr Mshiyeni Sogoni; Chairperson of Brand South Africa, Ms Chichi Maponya who is in the gallery; the Chief Executive Officer Mr Miller Matola; board members present; Chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency, Mr Yershen Pillay; hon members; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen, I am privileged to participate in the Budget Vote of the Presidency and as I do so, let me join the millions in prayers in wishing Tata Madiba good health and a full recovery.
In the few coming weeks we will be commemorating the historic gathering by our people who, on 26 June 1955, gathered at the congress of the people and adopted the Freedom Charter, in which one of the pronouncements says, "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white", and the Preamble to our Constitution also states that:
We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past; honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.
It is therefore befitting that the theme for this Presidency Budget Vote is, "South Africa is a better place today than it was in 1994".
Hon members, the Presidency has a responsibility to lead the country in nation-building, and ensure that we are united in our diversity, having social cohesion towards the creation of a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. As you do so, Mr President, you have been engaging in programmes such as the Siyahlola programme, meeting with the people, talking to them, listening, responding and ensuring that the departments and the Ministers do come back to ensure that this prosperity for all is indeed for all.
Amongst other programmes and activities is the building of the country's brand. This mammoth task was given to Brand South Africa, and a framework was also established for greater co-operation and co-ordination among other agencies that are responsible for marketing our country, namely Proudly South African and Tourism South Africa.
We have undertaken a number of initiatives in our efforts to ensure that the South Africa brand is among the 20 top country brands accross the world. Through your leadership, President, South Africa is indeed amongst those 20 top countries insofar as brand positioning is concerned. [Applause.]
The shift in the balance of political and economic power to Asia and other emerging markets saw Brand South Africa focus its activities more closely on Africa and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics, countries. This is strategic considering that Brics members will account for over 60% of global growth within the next three years.
The year 2013 began with strong and successful programmes that took advantage of important events to position South Africa further. These include the Afcon 2013 campaign, the World Economic Forum programme in Davos, the World Economic Forum recently held in Cape Town, the mining indaba, and the Brics platform in Durban. All these events were utilised for the positioning and profiling of South Africa in the domestic and international media and the public. [Applause.] The Brics summit provided an opportunity for South Africa to showcase itself to the world as the powerhouse of the rising continent of Africa.
Brand South Africa also released its Project Thrive (Investor Perceptions) Survey results. Working with independent institutions, this is a result of the research for this year, 2013, which contains positive findings for South Africa. The study indicates that while mining and quarrying and hospitality and tourism remain the most prominent sectors associated with South Africa, there has been a significant increase in other associations with other sectors in South Africa's economy amongst international investors, particularly in retail, trade, construction, financials, insurance, real estate, electricity, gas, water supply, post and telecommunications.
So, South Africa is positioning itself very well compared to those countries as far as brand positioning is concerned. [Applause.] Brand South Africa's "Play Your Part" initiative continues to make great strides in encouraging responsible citizenship, pride and patriotism amongst our people.
In contributing to the national discourse about eradicating gender-based violence, Brand South Africa hosted the Men's Dialogue, focusing on the role of men in the fight against gender-based violence, and to change attitudes and stereotypes in society as part of building a nonsexist society. Deputy President Motlanthe was the keynote speaker at that event.
In the coming year Brand South Africa will focus a lot of effort on the African continent, reaching out to South Africans in the diaspora in the world, including mobilising them to register and participate in voting as we change the law to accommodate them.
South Africa's stature and role in the international arena have thus grown significantly in the past two decades since the advent of democracy. The stature and role has been demonstrated in various ways. For instance, South Africa has twice been voted to serve in the UN's Security Council in a matter of a few years. Recently, South Africa hosted a successful Cop 17 Conference in Durban, and was invited to join the Brics group of nations.
In March 2013, South Africa hosted the fifth Brics summit in South Africa. Therefore, President, your leadership and the leadership of your government does indicate and show with confidence to the rest of the world that South Africa is indeed on the right course. [Applause.]
Additionally, the focus of South Africa's international engagements will be the African continent. South Africa is using its membership of forums like the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the World Bank, and the G20, in which it is the only African country, as well as the United Nations and the AU, to promote the African agenda of development, growth and greater prosperity.
Hon members, the only way to ensure success in our country's endeavours is to move together as a united people. South Africa, as with all the rest of Africa, has the advantage of a youthful population. We must therefore harness this demographic dividend window, because when we invest in our youth, we will have invested in our future.
Lfe expectancy in South Africa is on the increase. South Africans are now living longer. The child and infant mortality rate is in decline, and this is thanks to President Jacob Zuma's leadership in ensuring that indeed South Africa's child mortality rate is reduced. Hence the population of young people is now on the rise. [Applause.]
Comrade O R Tambo once said: "A nation that does not invest in its youth is a doomed nation." One of the Presidency's mandates is to mainstream youth development in the country through the National Youth Development Agency and also ensure that it creates an environment for young people of our country to realise their potential.
The NYDA has suffered a negative image among young people and had lost the confidence to deliver on its mandate in the eyes of many South Africans. However, it is important to note that a lot of good work has been done by the agency and a lot of young people have benefited from its service. This, however, does not discount the fact that some things could have been done differently. The NYDA has come full circle now, and as the country commemorates the 37th anniversary of Soweto and related uprisings, young people are looking to the agency to provide muchneeded relief to realise their potential.
Youth Month will further focus on job creation, skills development and youth empowerment. The call during this month will be on youth and all sectors of society to identify their roles in curbing the economic and social issues that the youth face in the country.
While the youth of 1976 fought for freedom and the creation of a democratic state, our government recognises that the youth of today have a completely different struggle, which is that of substance abuse over and above the fight for economic emancipation, access to quality education, and against unemployment, HIV and Aids. It is therefore fitting that the Youth Month theme for this year is, "Working together for youth development and a drug- free South Africa". [Applause.]
Youth development remains a priority on the government's and the NYDA's agenda. This year saw the signing of the Youth Employment Accord. The Youth Employment Accord is a viable and meaningful approach to youth employment creation, with a deliberate focus on skills development and entrepreneurship. Minister Ebrahim Patel will later announce the model and how it's going to be funded.
In an attempt to further advance youth development, the President has established the Presidential Youth Working Group to afford him an opportunity to interact with the relevant stakeholders in the youth development space. This is essential as it will allow young people to provide strategic advice to the executive on how to implement the youth development interventions in our country, and to ensure that the development of the youth agenda is indeed mainstreamed.
In the recent meeting held with the youth leadership organisation, where we were presented with the model of the Presidential Youth Working Group, the youth presented the following big five issues as key strategic priorities for youth development.
Mr President, they will be coming to you with the five issues to engage with and see if indeed government is investing correctly or enough in dealing with these challenges, namely, education and skills development - this will entail intensified skills development for the youth, especially those who have dropped out of school and are unemployed; secondly, economic participation by the youth, whose emphasis will be on job creation, particularly entrepreneurship; thirdly, substance abuse and violence prevention, whose priority will be given to actions aimed at combating alcohol and substance abuse as well as prevention of violence against women and children; fourthly, national youth service and social cohesion, where young people will be encouraged to volunteer their services to their communities so that they contribute to social cohesion, patriotism and nation-building; lastly, professionalising youth work, which will focus on ensuring the recognition of youth work as a profession, including the establishment of norms and standards so that it becomes a career of option.
The aforementioned priorities will be presented to the President so that he can take the lead and champion the cause. The Presidential Youth Working Group will be supported, Mr President, by an Inter-Ministerial Committee made up of Ministers and a secretariat made up of Deputy Ministers and technical committees of officials to avoid it becoming just a talkshop so that after decisions are taken they are implemented and followed up on. Also, in addition to the Youth Employment Accord, together with the mainstreaming of the youth agenda, we have already instructed Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, PME, to develop a monitoring tool to ensure that the work that we are doing has impact.
The Cabinet will receive regular reports and the President will convene this Presidential Youth Working Group annually to receive progress reports and engage young people continuously. In SADC the secretariat will be establishing the youth development desk, where each country will be expected to report on progress made in responding to the challenges of development. Africa, the region and South Africa are faced with a youth bulge.
Out of 1 billion, the population of Africa, 60% are young people. The different role models will be encouraged to plan jointly and pool resources in addressing the identified priorities. Most important is the need for each of the role-players to commit to implementation so that many young people can be reached and an impact can be made.
The newly appointed board of the NYDA has stated that one of its main goals is to restore the credibility of the NYDA. The NYDA's new vision, mission and values speak directly to a sense of responsibility in the youth of South Africa. The new vision is to be a credible and capable developmental agency for South Africa's youth.
This is in line with the National Development Plan, which singles out young people as key to the development of the country. Hence the review of the 2009 and 2014 national youth policy is under way and indeed the finalisation of the integrated youth development strategy is in progress. The new mission is to mainstream youth issues into society and to facilitate youth development in all sectors of society.
The NYDA has shifted their core business away from giving out loans towards education and skills development. This new plan will therefore focus on tailor-made interventions for job preparedness and placement, and a focus on scholarship provision for those who excel at school.
The NYDA's highly successful flagship programmes, such as the Youth Build Programme for out-of-school youth and our career guidance programme, will be intensified. Over 1 500 young people will be engaged in the Youth Build programme for the financial year 2013-14. The NYDA plan to reach at least 700 000 young people with career guidance services.
The NYDA will continue with efforts directed at economic participation by offering a range of products, programme services, to young entrepreneurs in need, albeit as a secondary offer.
Furthermore, at the end of April 2013, the NYDA concluded a peer counselling programme in partnership with Sanca, the National Council on Alcohol, and Drug Dependence, in which young people were being trained and will continue to be trained as ambassadors for substance abuse campaigns. Mr President, we welcome your intervention, addressing substance abuse in Eldorado Park, by clamping down on drug dens known as "lolly lounges". It is indeed yielding significant progress in fighting the scourge of substance abuse. We are, however, aware that the situation in Eldorado Park is symptomatic of issues facing many communities in the rest of the country. Black townships in particular are highly affected.
Our government's focus in Youth Month this year is on a holistic youth development agenda, with specific focus on the fight against substance abuse. Alcohol and substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking are global phenomena and South Africa is no exception.
This has serious implications for millions of South Africans, because alcohol and substance abuse contributes to crime, gangsterism, domestic violence, family dysfunction and other social ills. Moreover, it has been reported that drug abuse in South Africa is twice the world norm in most cases.
In particular the youth bore the brunt of abuse with the emergence of local drugs such as "nyaope" and "kubar" that originated in the Pretoria townships of Soshanguve, Atteridgeville and Mamelodi, and quickly spread to other townships such as Chatsworth in Durban, where it is called "sugars" or "whoonga". In Mpumalanga it is known as "pinch" and in Cape Town the use of the drug tik is prevalent.
Street drugs like nyaope and tik are destroying the future of South African youth and ruining the lives of their parents. When they should be in school, addicted children are scavenging for money to finance their habit. They steal items such as water taps. We deliver water taps and then they steal them; also gates, copper, aluminium, food, clothes, money in the house, whatever they can lay their hands on, just to get high.
This dangerous drug, nyaope, is made from a cocktail of ingredients such as rat poison, heroin, dagga and antiretrovirals, ARVs. And it is usually sold in small parcels at R30 a portion. Nyaope has not been classified as an illegal drug, but the Department of Justice is moving to amend the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act to ensure that charges can be laid for possession and dealing in these drugs. Charges will rely heavily on dagga and heroin, that are commonly found in nyaope.
We want to inform the youth of our country that these drugs are lethal, they are poisonous, addictive; you can get ill, you can die. Take this message and ensure that you stop taking drugs and put a stop to it.
Research has also shown that our children go to the extent of infecting themselves with the HIV virus so that they are able to access antiretroviral drugs from health facilities. Therefore, it is very disturbing that, as a nation, we will lose the fight against HIV and Aids because of the new infections that are done deliberately in order for our children to feed their drug habits.
We can succeed only if you as young people help us by helping yourselves. Take responsibility, take a stand against the drugs and stop.
As government, we also recognise that alcohol abuse among young people is a serious threat. Statistics reveal that South Africa has one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world. Raising the alcohol-drinking age to 21 years, limiting alcohol advertisements, a zero-tolerance for drunk driving and public drinking are some of the proposals to be considered by government.
Our government recognises that the drugs problem is complex and it requires decisive, collective and national action. Government has been at the forefront of fighting the scourge of substance abuse through various national initiatives and programmes.
Given the seriousness of the situation, it has convened, and is also implementing an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Substance Abuse. The Anti- Substance Abuse National Plan of Action, led by the Department of Social Development, is a collective effort towards achieving a South Africa that is free of drug abuse. This master plan commits government and sectors of society to work together to reduce demand and supply of illegal drugs throughout a wide range of co-ordinated action, from national to local.
Hon members, a drug-free generation is everyone's responsibility. Government is committed to ridding our society of substance abuse, which is the cause of numerous social ills. However, help is needed from parents, civil society and faith-based organisations and communities in tackling this scourge.
We urge parents, relatives and other community structures to play a role in raising awareness and in providing support for those affected. Communities are called upon to report those involved in the trade of illegal substances so that we can fight and beat the scourge together.
We must do this as a nation, as a people, and defeat this demon, and continue to make South Africa a better place to live in. You decide, say no to drugs. You decide, say no to alcohol. You decide, say no to rape. And you decide, say no to violent behaviour. That is the message that we are giving, and we say thanks very much to the hon President, and also to the director-general and senior staff in the Presidency, for their support. Thank you. [Applause.]