Mr Chairman, hon members, following the first voter registration drive for the recent 2009 general election, it was reported by the IEC that out of the 1,6 million new voters it had registered for the upcoming poll, over 1,2 million - that is 75% - were between the ages of 18 and 29. This was an encouraging signal that we could expect a substantial youth voter turnout in the election.
This was very good news indeed, particularly since it came at a time when concerns were growing about the apathy that many young South Africans seemed to feel towards politics and government, and when questions were being asked about how this situation could be remedied. The incongruence was very clear for all to see: In a country in which young people had made a defining contribution to the recent passage from oppression into democracy; in a country in which young people had stunned South Africa and the world with their extraordinary courage, who had faced the tanks and the bullets of the apartheid machine and marched defiantly for their right to a better education and a better life, it was absolutely astonishing that less than 20 years after that freedom had been won, the youth of South Africa could not muster up the interest to exercise their hard-won democratic right to vote.
It was very unfortunate, then, that in the midst of this all-important national debate about how to inspire young people into civic action, the response of some political parties and of their youth organisations was instead, in far too many cases, to take political engagement down to the lowest common denominator.
In the pre-election buzz, when searching for contemporaries in the political arena who might speak to the issues that touch them and were of deep concern to them, such as high rates of unemployment and underemployment, the crisis in our education system or the scourge of HIV/Aids, young South Africans were more likely to hear youth leaders declaring their intention to "take up arms and kill" for their political benefactors, or to hear them argue that rape victims have usually "had a nice time" with their alleged aggressors if they "requested breakfast and taxi money".
There hasn't been much improvement in the wake of the election. Certain of this country's young political leaders, instead of offering proactive solutions to the most pressing problems facing the youth of this country, have instead spent their time pursuing political agendas against those whom it is not in their mandate to wage battle against, launching libelous, sexist attacks on democratically elected leaders and engaging in absurd debates about the definition of "sleeping around," whilst all the while schoolchildren continue to be neglected by errant teachers, young girls remain vulnerable to sexual predators and our youth remain trapped in a cycle of unemployment, poverty and lack of access to opportunity.
I won't go any further into the failings of well-known youth organisations, Mr Chairman, since they are surely well known, both to you and to the hon members present here today. The question, then, which has to stem from what we know, speaks to the central premise of today's debate: How do we celebrate a more vibrant youth voice in South Africa? How do we do justice to the memory of the brave, principled young people who came before us and whose sacrifices we commemorate on Youth Day this month? How do we change youth political engagement in this country from a sordid spectacle into an honest discussion about how the youth of this country can increase their civic participation and contribute to the drive to address the critical issues facing them and their peers? [Interjections.]