Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members of the National Council of Provinces, the Chief Whip, comrades and friends, we celebrate the democracy which, together with our mothers and fathers, we have all fought so hard to build since its attainment 15 years ago, and the democratic institutions which we continue to strengthen as we mark every progressive year of the National Youth Development Agency on the South African calendar.
We need a focused youth that can be trusted with the future of this important national cornerstone that defines a certain sector of our people. That South Africa's future depends on a responsible youth cannot be contested. We need a youth that is ready to face the challenges without ever turning or retreating, a youth able to take action in defence of its people's freedom, and a youth able to account for such actions. Indeed, we need a responsible youth that will, in its actions, find the road towards its own empowerment.
We need to know what constitutes a responsible youth. How do we define and judge this responsibility? Is this responsibility relative or is it a solid phenomenon?
History has more often than not proven that the degree of responsibility that is needed to take forward the revolution can be found in the youth. One can see this in the success of the October Revolution, the 26th of July Movement, the 16 June uprisings and many other historical actions that have distinguished young people as progressive revolutionaries. Among these are the youth of the 1940s, the Mandelas, the Anton Lembedes and the Oliver Tambos of this world, who ignited the flame of revolutionary discourse among South Africa's young intellectuals.
The advent of 16 June 1976 saw a disciplined youth force emerge to meticulously plan for what would be one of the most important revolutionary events in the history of our country. In the entire planning prior to, during and after the June 16 uprisings, one senses a deep-rooted discipline in young people ready to take responsibility for a situation in which they are placed as active participants, defining themselves as actors and not as spectators.
What lessons do we draw from these historical experiences as we begin to define the new role which we should play as the youth of today in safeguarding and strengthening our democracy? The answer lies in taking responsibility.
Responsibility can be clearly defined by the relative position which the subject assumes towards the object, impacted upon by the degree of ownership which the subject accepts over any action undertaken in the process. Critical in the above statement is defining the relative position which one holds, thus one's identity and ownership of the action undertaken, conscious of the impact thereof on both the subject and the object. The subject and object of our economic plan and economic participation shall not take their cue from the short-sightedness of the planners of the economy from which Helen Zille and her predecessors benefited. The lie that they spread in making African leaders believe that a market economy was the only rational economic system ever devised by man is sickening. In fact, they have led us to one hopeless economic mess after another, up to the current economic meltdown, and they are unable to do anything more than to recommend simple palliatives without regard to future generations.
We are saying as the youth of South Africa, while acknowledging that there are no simple solutions, we are going to get together to exchange experiences, and summarise and synthesise the wealth of new knowledge at our disposal. In order to shake stagnation in the economic development of young people in South Africa, we shall take the responsibility of ensuring that concrete and progressive measures are put in place through the National Youth Development Agency. For this reason we shall be mindful of not sliding into total economic and political opportunism.
Zille, the youth is saying to you: "Pasop - beware". Stop attacking our President as he puts in place progressive proposals that seek to propel us forward in youth development. These are the defining features of responsible leadership.