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 EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN THE AFRICAN CENTURY

PRESENTED BY MEC P. MASUALLE

ON THE OCCASION OF THE YOUTH PARLIAMENT

ON 09 JUNE 2000

The strategic objective of all the forces that were progressively fighting for liberation of the Blacks, Africans in particular, in this 
country was fundamentally focussed on the replacement of the apartheid state with a democratic state.It is the then youth of the time and 
the now senior citizens of the time that founded this revolution and when we are here today we need to congratulate them for their undying 
desire and efforts to liberate this country.As we sit here, Cde. Speaker, we owe tribute to the young people of this country who, at an 
early stage of their lives found themselves faced with a mammoth task of bringing forth a new society in this country, a society with utter 
respect for human dignity, independence and self-determination of our own nation.We need to pay our tribute to the young women and men of 
this country who, at an early stage of their lives, found themselves victims of the brutal, senseless powers-be of the time.We have to pay 
tribute to all our comrades, youth in particular, who have fallen in the struggle for liberation, who could not reap the fruits of their 
own sow. Next week Friday, Cde. Speaker, is the youth day, previously known as June 16 when youth will be remembering all those young 
people that were butchered in 1976 on the same day by the merciless apartheid regime and its security forces and it is our task all of us 
to make that day a youth day.

It is now six years two months since the liberation of this country and a number of achievements that we can boast about have been made and 
in fact there are still strides to accelerate the rate of such achievements and gains. This second democratically elected government in our 
country has set itself a number of tasks pivotal of which is the acceleration of change and speeding up of delivery in a number of spheres 
including youth development. This indeed, Cde Speaker, is in no way an easy task but rather a real daunting, mammoth one which needs 
experienced, tried and tested, leadership to deal with.

In the past, cde Speaker, young people in this country have suffered in a number of ways and to mention a few I would say their suffering 
manifested itself as follows:

* They had to grow under conditions in which the family unit as a basic unit in society was broken and they never grew to appreciate the 
love of their both parents because of their fathers who were always away in the mines or elsewhere away from home as migrant labourers
* At a tender age they had to comprehend with situations whereby their parents were away from them either because they have been committed 
to prison by the powers-be or they have been butchered, or even exiled;
* They had to learn and grow under an education system, which was almost inhuman in nature.An education system which was not designed to 
prepare them for their future but rather to make them perpetual reservoirs of labour;
* They had to shy away from thinking as human beings lest they were subjected to inhuman treatment, arrested, killed, false charges put 
against them and so forth. They had to think like conformists, like subjects, like animals.

It should not, thus, appear as some historical accident that we find so much apathy among and isolation of the young people in all the 
issues relating to societal transformation and human development.It is the above realities that youth should learn to contend and grapple 
with.

Cde. Speaker, with these words I would want to greet and welcome every one of you that has attended this important and historical event in 
our province.I wish to congratulate and highly commend the Provincial Youth Commission (PYC) for having chosen this particular step in a 
way of giving effect to the very basic principles of democracy, which are consultation and mandate that I can sum up as accountability.This 
on its own is a milestone achieved and only an outright chauvinist would remain denying the fact that our youth commission has a mission 
and is really committed to the bone in development.

I must acknowledge the delegates present in the House who are champions and leaders of the socio-economic development of our young women 
and men in the Eastern Cape in this African century.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of the members of the Provincial Legislature who have come to bear witness to this remarkable 
consistency of our youth in devoting their time and energies on issues of change, transformation and development.

My further acknowledgement goes to the youth commissions activity report that has been handed over to the Deputy Speaker.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW DEMOCRATIC ORDER

In the words of the revolutionary legend, O.R. Tambo, we need to agree that a country that does not value (and invest in) its youth has no 
future.Our new government in South Africa has set itself a task of ensuring that the South African youth is united, consolidated, trained 
and disciplined because from within their ranks leaders of tomorrow shall be drawn.

The new dispensation has witnessed the ushering in of a new constitutional framework for the country entrenching human rights standing as 
supreme law.There are critical fundamental human rights that are expounded in the constitution which relate to democratisation of 
education, guaranteeing the young people a right to quality education.

The democratic government has thus taken further its commitment to the development of our youth by establishing the National Youth 
Commission, which is the subject of this imbizo here today.As part of its mandate, the youth commission was expected to deliver on a number 
of areas relating to youth development policy development, monitoring of government programmes in so far as they impact on the lives of the 
young people.This was a milestone achieved on its own, cde Speaker, in that our government consciously declared that young people should 
take charge of their own development and prosperity.

Our province has also witnessed the same government commitment to this critical task of youth development.It was only three months ago, cde 
Speaker, that the various provincial departments in their policy speeches in this House tabled important areas of provincial government 
intervention in youth development.The establishment of special programmes with a youth desk in the provincial departments is also another 
glaring indication of our commitment as the provincial government to the advancement of the course and plight of young people in this 
province.

With regard to human resource development in the sphere of youth development, cde Speaker, our government has made a number of strides to 
ensure quality.The transformation of the tertiary education institutions and curriculum bears witness to such an assertion.

CHALLENGES FACING OUR YOUTH MOVEMENT

At this stage cde Speaker I would like to then turn to the pressing challenges that face our youth today and the role youth is expected to 
play during this critical time of our development in South Africa. It is the extent to and manner in which the leadership of our young 
people grapple with these challenges and many others that will dictate and determine the future of not only our youth, but also our country 
as a whole.

* South Africa has a complex problem which, stated briefly is: The contact of the White race with the Black has resulted in the emergence 
of a set of conflicting living conditions and outlooks on life which seriously hamper South Africas progress to nationhood.The key 
challenge that our youth should therefore begin to tackle is how can we create a common nationhood, a national (political) identity which 
would be able to bind us and make our enemy as common and as being that of fighting poverty in all its forms within our society.

* The foundation has been laid for the development of our people and all that is left at this stage is the putting into reality the 
aspirations and needs of our people.The leadership of youth needs to be the active participants in the transformation of our society.They 
need to participate in all the progressive structures in our communities as well as in the policy dialogue in government so that they set 
the developmental agenda.The key challenge here is to educate youth on issues of governance and encourage them to participate in governance 
as much as possible.

* There is still a lack of organising the youth in business and as such there is a dire need especially at this present moment to have our 
youth united in purpose in all spheres and circles of life.Beyond just the youth in business there is also the unresolved question of the 
working youth that also has to be advocated and lobbied to participate actively in the development of their counter-parts/colleagues.

* The transformation of the education system should not really be a domain of government, but rather that of youth and it is the content 
that youth put into this transformation that will dictate and determine the future of our country as well.

* The demon of the Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome that is so endemic in our society and destroying our young people in their tens is 
another worrying factor.It is only when the youth themselves pick up this issue seriously and consciously that they can deal with it.Thanks 
to the youth commission because the theme for the day is also dealing with the mobilisation of youth to fight this disease.

* There is also a lack of youth visibility in the mainstream economic activity in our country, particularly in this province.This is an 
area that youth still needs to start dealing with in a major way.

* Unemployment is really dealing our youth another major blow in this period in which we are.What programmes does the youth have to deal 
with this predicament.There is a dire need for the effective utilisation of the youth service centres in this regard.

* With the present innumerable programmes that our present government has developed for youth, it remains at the domain of youth to make 
that work for themselves.The advocacy for volunteerism, community service and patriotism must be itemised as an important agenda of your 
youth formations.

* Youth today has to be more precise as to the roles that they want to play in the present socio-economic set-up and it is important that 
the youth presents a more cohesive movement with a sense of common purpose.

* Beyond the walls of this House, cde Speaker, it suffices to say that youth need to make a clarion call to all other youth to join forces 
in the broader development in our communities.Youth should be able to further engage civil society at large as well as business in an 
endeavour to lobby for their participation and unwinding support for the important task of youth development in our province.

* Crime is destroying our society and chasing all traces of foreign investment away from this country, this province in particular.Youth is 
central in these criminal tendencies.The raping of tourists in the Eastern Beach in East London, Port St. Johns and elsewhere in this 
province makes this province the worst tourist attraction.But can we really afford that.Car theft and high jacking is also another criminal 
tendency attributable to youth.Worse so that our education institutions are made to be the places to hoard these stolen vehicles.Rape is in 
the increase.It is so saddening to find that infants, children, elders (in short the defenceless) are always the victims of these rapist 
tendencies in our province and again youth is implicated in these instances.Crime is the most devastating demon that we ever had in our 
province and it is only when our youth begin to grapple with this problem that they can deal with it.They need to interrogate its organic 
nature so as to be able to see how best can they root our society of it.

IN CONCLUSION

By way of inference, I should begin my summation by declaring that we should make this century, not just the African century, but also the 
youth century.This must be a century by which a turning point should be witnessed regarding youth focus.

An old saying, cde Speaker, is: he who feels the pain knows the pain and it goes without saying that the youth themselves knows the many 
ways in which they suffer in our society and they are the best advocates for their own course. All the doors are open for them in 
government to assist them with all their endeavours.

The ongoing work of the current cycle of Commissioners and the next cycle of Commissioners together with other youth workers in government 
will assist in the integration of youth development in the provincial agenda

I thank you all.

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