Thank you, Chairperson. Firstly, I want to comment on what the hon Hartnick has said. She is an honest DA politician because she has admitted and acknowledged that South Africa is underdeveloped because of apartheid. It could be one of the reasons why Madam Zille does not deploy women in the Cabinet - they always tell the truth!
We are debating the theme, "Advancing youth development to break the cycle of generational poverty and unemployment". The claim of the youth to a bright future is unquestionable. Our youth have, in our history of apartheid and hardship, borne much of the brunt of the struggle. For many years under apartheid they were literally and deliberately deprived of a future by a system which kept all blacks in bondage in the country of their birth.
For many young people it meant enormous deprivation just at a time when they would have expected to look forward to a full life. The education system was specifically designed to keep blacks as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as quoted from Joshua 9 in the Bible. The ghettoes of apartheid in towns and cities, and also in alienated bogus statelets called bantustans, kept blacks in conditions which were depressing and hopeless.
The youth of 1976, and the generations of youth both before and after them, were correct to fight without fear for freedom, in pursuit of a South Africa in which all would share in the country's wealth and a South Africa that belonged to all who live in it.
As youths emerged from the meagre training and education that was available, they were prohibited from pursuing many avenues of employment reserved for whites. They grew into a society that was in the iron grip of repression. At long last freedom arrived in 1994, when all South Africans set out on a nation-building expedition in which all the youth had earned a prized place.
Youth development is an integral part of addressing the challenge of postapartheid South Africa. The National Youth Development Policy Framework therefore forms the basis for developing opportunities for all young women and men in South Africa.
The legacy of apartheid has, however, resulted in a large proportion of young people being subject to poor socioeconomic conditions characterised by poverty, poor living conditions, abuse, unemployment and a lack of access to education and recreational facilities. The prevalent poor socioeconomic conditions severely impinge on young people's holistic wellbeing and further exacerbate their vulnerability to peer pressure, substance abuse, crime and ill health.
Chairperson, unemployment and poverty have emerged as major developmental challenges and are, in fact, global phenomena, so much so that poverty eradication is reflected as the number one goal of the United Nations Millennium Goals, MDGs. The number one target is to halve poverty by 2015 and the other target is to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
South Africa has a large youth population. About 35% of the South African population are between the ages of 16 and 35. The youth form 70% of all unemployed persons in South African society, which indicates a significant overrepresentation of youth amongst the unemployed.
In addressing the needs and issues of the youth, government has responded in various ways. Among them, government has included issues facing the youth in a public policy framework that shapes and informs a systematic and comprehensive government response.
The Youth Parliament was provided by Parliament as a national discussion platform to encourage the youth through active debates to take part in shaping the country and deepening democracy, with the objective of debating issues affecting the youth, such as economic participation and youth development. It also created an opportunity for the youth to engage in Parliament, the provincial legislatures, the national youth structures and local government.
Although youth development is a national responsibility, all spheres of government, including local government, are involved in youth development by virtue of intergovernmental relations. It is therefore imperative for all municipalities to adopt a youth policy framework. Local government should also ensure that it works very closely with the National Youth Development Agency and with youth offices at each municipality run by skilled young people.
The government should as a matter of urgency consider major investment in education in order to educate and uplift the youth to achieve economic freedom and economic growth. Urgent consideration should also be given to the introduction of entrepreneurial development at high school level. Procurement policies should be biased towards young people and finance made more accessible. Banks should ease their credit requirements.
As we celebrate Youth Month and are optimistic about the New Growth Path, the question is being asked by the youth, and quite rightly so: what benefit will the youth derive from this new growth initiative? How can we ensure that political freedom translates into economic transformation? The answer to this is that it should be ensured that the youth are the largest beneficiary of the R8 billion job creation fund announced by the President.
I would be failing in my duty if I did not pay tribute to the ANC, and in particular the ANC youth, who have sacrificed much and suffered severe hardship and oppression, who know arrest, torture and death itself, who liberated this country and ensured freedom for all, and who also enabled a person like the DA spokesperson, Lindiwe Mazibuko, and her friends to enjoy the same freedom, while they have betrayed the heroes and heroines of the struggle, like Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, Siphiwe Mthimkhulu, Ephraim Mogale, Tsietsi Mashinini, Sibongile Mkhabela ...