10 June 2016
Program Director
Executive Mayor, Cllr Parks Tau
MECs
Councillors
Community Leaders
Leaders of Student and Youth formations
Various Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Friends
Last week, the 1st of June, we officially marked the beginning of the Youth Month in the South African commemorations calendar. The activities of the youth month are meant to celebrate our youth, their achievements, but also to recognise the contribution that they have made in the struggle for freedom and democracy in our country.
It is a period during which, the whole country, as led by government, heightens its focus on the progress we are making in addressing challenges faced by our youth, while we also look at the extent and opportunities for their contribution in the building of a better South Africa and a better world. The 1st of June, is also recognized globally World Children Day, highlighting the plight of many children around the world and the need to galvanise the attention of the world in addressing their challenges, including the millions who live in abject poverty, many who are scared by abuse, and without access to adequate accommodation, healthcare, protection and education.
On that occasion, we had the privilege to deliver a memorial lecture paying tribute to Oliver Regionald Tambo, the late President General of the African National Congress, and one of the founding fathers of a democratic and free South Africa. A leader who very early on during his days of struggle for our liberation, warned those with whom he served that:
“A nation that doesn’t take care of its youth has no future, and doesn’t deserve one.”
It is in keeping with the legacy of this visionary leader, and true to our commitment t this cause, that government has identified June as the month in which we hnour, celebrate and focus on the challenges facing our youth and their potential in building a better South Africa, a better Africa, and a better world. It is because of that legacy, and the heeding of Tambo’s prophetic warning, that we are here today.
I want to thank the City of Johannesburg for the initiative to put together this June 16 EXPO in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Soweto Students Uprisings. This Expo is indeed a significant, laudable and befitting tribute to the young lions of June 1976.
The EXPO constitutes an integral part of the various initiatives of the government coordinated at the national level by the Inter-Ministerial Committee of Cabinet, to remember and honour the supreme sacrifices that were made by thousands of students of Soweto and other parts of the country, who stood up against the might and brutality of the Apartheid system. The events of June 1976, are recognized as representing a turning point in the struggle that ushered our 22 years of freedom and democracy we have seen in our country.
The EXPO is a reminder to all us, particularly the youth,that the freedom that we now enjoy was not free. It came as a result of many sacrifices, including the supreme sacrifice of shattered and lost lives. It must therefore be cherished, be nurtured and be defended.
Fourty years ago about 20 000 young leaners, from schools across the length and breadth of Seweto, took to the streets to protest against the imposition of the Afrikaans as a medium instruction and the inferior Bantu Education system. They wanted to express, their wish to receive qualitative education that equips them to be productive citizens who can make a contribution in building their country. They were however, met with brutality by the Apertheid police and security forces that left no less than 600 innocent children dead and hundreds more injured, with scores jailed.
Thousands of young men and women also had to leave their beloved country for exile to get military training and return to fight for our freedom. They included heroes of the struggle such as Tsietsi Mashinini, Solomon kalushi Mahlangu, Barney Molokoane, and Gordon Dikebu, the Lion of Chiawelo. Many were hanged or killed in heroic combat.
From June 1976 the youth continuosly surged on with the armed liberation struggle, roaring mass actions, underground work and international isolation of the Apartheid regime until it was defeated and freedom and democracy triumphed on 27th April 1994 and the late President Nelson Mandela ascended to power as the first black President of the country.
From 1995, in honour of the immense contributions made by the Youth, the government has declared June 16 as a public holiday and June as Youth Month.
Acknowledging the important role that the youth played and continues to play Utat úMadiba said on June 16 1995 to the youth "YOU WERE IN THE FOREFRONT OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE.TODAY MUST YOU MUST BE IN THE FOREFRONT OF RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT."
This EXPO's intention to accelerate efforts to transform young people's lives by showcasing numerous youth development projects and opportunities such as leanerships, bursaries and internships in various JHB City Departments is a true testament of the response to that clarion call to the youth to reconstruct and develop our country and it could not have a come at a better time.
Creative exhibitions of this EXPO such as Jozi@work, Jozi My Beginning Community Innovation Fund 'Vulindlel' eJozi Empowerment and Employment Initiative, will go a long way in help address the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment that afflicts our society in general and youth in particular.
Today, the youth, constitutes about 60 % of the population of South Africa and are the future leaders of our country,
Yet they constitute two thirds of the estimated 5 million unemployed population. Only half of those who start Grade 1 complete 12. The scourge of substance and drugs abuse, teenage pregnancies, crime and other social ills continue to deflate the real potential of our young people.
This June 16 EXPO is therefore a direct and bold response to redress these social ills and challenges and set the youth of Johannesburg on an accelerated socio-economic developmental path.
Since the advent of democracy the government has been investing billions of Rands to build schools, libraries and other public institutions, to better the lives of the communities especially in rural and vulnerable communities. New Universities have been established both in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. These infrastructure investments have to be protected and the youth should take leading role in that regard. The recent burning and vandalisation of schools and violent protests as we witnessed ín Vuwani and universities; as well as violence during various service delivery protests, should be condemned and be uprooted from amongst our society.
The government has established institutions to give focused attention to youth development such as the National Youth Development Agency and allocated resources and funding to help ensure that our youth are removed form the quagmire of poverty, unemployment and economic exclusion. To date significant progress has been realized as a result.
The National Deevelopment Plan sets out a clear trajectory and vision and programmes for the next 30 years inlcuding massive public infrastructure programmes worth over R700 billion (Rands). It has since allocated over one billion Rands to specifically coordinate and take care of empowerment programmes focusing specifically on the youth.
It is for the youth to take advantage of all these opportunities so that they can transform their lives and that of their families as well as communities for the better.
Of course the complex socio economic challenges facing our youth cannot be resolved by government alone. We therefore call on the private sector and all sectors of society to come to the party and emulate this June 16 EXPO. Together, in memory of those that played their part in bringing us our freedom and democracy let’s all put our shoulders to the wheel.
Program Director,
As Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, I address you today very mindful of the fact that in front of me are young people who must be given the tools to improve their lives and positively shape the future of this country. It is a responsibility that all of us particularly those in leadership positions cannot avoid and should take seriously. The Department of Defence is determined to place youth at the centre of its plans to create a highly professional, disciplined and technologically advanced defence force equipped to execute its core constitutional mandate and other assigned tasks.
Last year Parliament approved the Defence Review which is a comprehensive policy blueprint for the defence force for the next 20 years. The recruitment into the defence force of young South Africans with great potential is critical to our efforts to have a military that efficiently and effectively serves the needs of the country and its people. We want to expose the work of the defence force and create awareness of the full range of its activities and its role in society as well as career opportunities that exist in its various components.
The Defence Force also recruits young people through the Military Skills Development System (MSDS) and University Reserve Training Programme (URTP). Suffice to say that the programmes offer opportunities of training and employment in the regular and reserve forces. Those who cannot be absorbed in the military will have the skills and training to compete on the open labor market. All arms of service, the Navy, South African Army, the Air Force and Medical Health Services, are in need of people in disciplines such as engineering, medicine, avionics, nautical sciences, computer science and finance. The list is by no means exhaustive. We continue to build relationships with schools and tertiary institutions to enable us to identify young people we need to build a defence force we can all be proud of.
I must say that while there are exciting career opportunities in the defence force, I must stress that there is a limit to the numbers we can employ due to acute budgetary constraints. We have, however, arrangements with other government departments in the security cluster such as Correctional Services, Police, State Security and Home Affairs to absorb people trained by us.
It is also important for me to point out that the defence does more than just recruit and train technocrats. It produces a disciplined leadership cadre imbued with values of selfless service and patriotism.
It is by so doing that we hope we can attract young women and men of the caliber of June 16, because if we can emulate their demonstrated patriotism and love for their country, our people can be reassured of safety and peace at all times.
Allow me to conclude by reminding ourselves of the important message to the youth from handed down from the late liberation struggle stalwart and visionary leader, the late Moses "Malume" Kotane, when he said
"THE FUTURE OF YOUR COUNTRY IS IN YOUR HANNDS. IT WILL BE WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT."
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