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Media Release: Youth Day Celebrations
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Premier's Office

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MEDIA RELEASE
 FOR IMMEDIATE USE
 16 JUNE 2001

YOUTH DAY CELEBRATIONS

 PREMIER, Rev Makhenkesi Stofile, called on the Eastern Cape youth to go back to farming to ensure better livelihoods when he addressed the 
June 16 Youth Day celebrations held in Pearston on Saturday.

Speaking at a rally attended by over 5000 people from the surrounding areas of Adelaide, Bedford, Graaff-Reinet, Jansenville, Cookhouse and 
Klipplaat, Rev Stofile said the provincial youth needed to refrain from wanting fashionable careers where they either teach or sit and 
press computers.

 Rejuvenate farming &#133; he advised. These towns originaly depended on farming as it is back bone of the strongest economies in the 
world.

 Contrary to a request made by the Eastern Cape Youth Commission deputy chairperson when he made his address, that the provincial 
government and the private sector invest in the Mid-Karoo areas, Rev Stofile said these areas were dry and industry was a major consumer of 
water.

 Young people should go back to the land. There is no industry here and it would not be easy to bring it here. This is the Karoo it is dry 
and there is will not be enough if we do not go back to the land, he said.

 Rev Stofile asked the elated audience what they would eat after the government had delivered houses, electricity and water. He thus 
advised them to start farming projects and get government support. He, nevertheless cautioned that starting these projects with only 
elderly people would not ensure their sustainability and that youth, to ensure continuity, should be involved.

 The farming projects according to the Premier should be accompanied by support from farmers. He called on white farmers to share the 
farming land with black people.

 Youth fighting poverty through community development was this years theme for the Youth Day. According to the Pearston local youth 
leader, Dalindyebo Mselana, it would be difficult to achieve this. He said the following factors were impediments:

* Youth passiveness with regard to developmental programmes;
* Ignorance on how to interpret the current legislation to understand government development trends;
* Drug abuse, child labour, HIV/Aids scourge and unemployment; and
* Their failure to adequately use youth centres built for them.

 Mselana requested the Eastern Cape Youth Commission to address these challenges.

 Youth Commission deputy chairperson, Mlungisi Lumka, said the language problem was responsible for the difficulties encountered in the 
area. However, he said the commission had begun discussions with the Provincial Government, including the Premier, for an integrated 
development strategy to regenerate socio- economic development of the area.

 Among other things this strategy should harness the economic potential of the region, especially in the agriculture sector and be able to 
support local municipalities to enhance their capacity to drive development.

When this happens, there will be better opportunities to link youth development to community development, so that it is not isolated, he 
said. This linking of youth development to community development will guarantee sustainability of youth development programmes and 
integration across age categories.

 Coming to the question of people who were asked whether the commemoration of June 16 was still relevant beyond 2000 Lumka said the 
question was wrong and irresponsible.

 People must stop asking that question. What confronted students in 1976 is what still confronts students in 2001, he said. Lumka added 
that this was evident in poor matric results from black learners.

 "Today we still have education and skill levels structuring employment opportunities according to the colours of our skins, with whites on 
top and blacks at the bottom, he said. High levels of unemployment, especially in the poor communities, partly result from this 
historical reality. That is why we have unemployment levels in Pearston as high as 67%.

Lumka said Pearston had been chosen to host the Youth Day celebrations to highlight the plight of people in the area. Having the majority 
of people depending on state grants for their survival was enough evidence of their plight. He thus called on the private sector, 
government to invest in the area.

 Saturdays celebrations marked the 25th anniversary of June 16, 1976. This was a day when students protested against the imposition of 
Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in the formal education system and the oppressive system of apartheid.

 These protests were met with police brutality, which led to the death of hundreds of young pupils including Hector Peterson, who became 
the first victim of violence during the protests. What started as a students protest, soon became youth protest in and outside schools.

 What followed was a wave of mass protests across the whole country, with young people saying: no!, to the imposition of the language of 
some racial groups on the others. This was soon joined by many social sectors in the communities, like the labour movement.

Delivering his keynote address Rev Stofile said they were in Pearston to celebrate that after blood baths we had such a delicious fruit. 
He said the history of June 16 and would never be repeated however it was important to acknowledge historical events to ensure that indeed 
never again should one group impose its language on the others.

 Although thousand died since June 16, the black nation did not disappear. We should be humbled as we enjoy the fruits of such 
sacrifices, he said. Afrikaans is one of the most important languages, there is no one who is against it as a language. Children then 
were not against it as a language but were against being taught with a language they did not understand and could not hear. That was the 
problem and it was not a new problem.

 He said the Transvaal had started in 1946 to teach it at schools. In 1967, the Cape had started teaching with force social studies, 
mathematics, history in Afrikaans. He said 1976 was apparently the last attempt to make a national law that Afrikaans be a language of 
instruction and people had had enough.

The struggle against Afrikaans was not necessarily won, but freedom was attained. He said freedom meant that everybody was equal and a 
mistake should not be made to force people to speak Xhosa and to think that it was the only language in the Eastern Cape because we were 
the majority.

 History of independence must be summed up in few words; that the freedom that we want is to lead our nation to political freedom and 
economic redistribution of resources in this country, he said. Democracy means we should share.

 Stofile said democracy did not mean that people should be lazy but should work even harder to restore their dignity, fight poverty, and 
fight disease like HIV/Aids and corruption that threaten the very democracy and used the little money that was available to build a nation.

 Democracy means people should use their brains to look for ways to live in their areas. We are availing lights, water and houses but 
after that what will you eat, he asked.

 Stofile said there was an ongoing quest to for total liberation. He said there steps being taken to ensure proper redistribution of 
resources to the deprived. He said the disadvantaged were also being taken care of through Affirmative Action and the Equity Act.

He called for an end to the abuse of children by parents and parents by children. Homes are no longer proper workshops to build a good 
citizen.He said they still have to rebuild themselves.

 Democracy means responsibility, he cautioned.

 The celebrations ended with the crowds being entertained with the sounds of Ringo Madlingozi.

Issued by: Communications Division  Office of the Premier
 Statement content queries should be directed to Manelisi Wolela  082 414 7768

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