Chairperson, in five days' time it shall be exactly 32 years since the 1976 uprising. All our people agree that this day was more than just an event. It was a heroic feat that turned around the historical course of events in our country and ushered in a new era of struggle. As a result of that uprising, the eighties were to be a different kind of period. The vulnerability of the regime was exposed and its inevitable defeat ceased to be inconceivable.
It is correct that our country should every year commemorate that uprising and pay tribute to the young patriots who, on that day, committed a feat way above their shoulders, as well as millions of others who followed in their footsteps in the years that were to follow. Because of their magnificent bravura they laid a solid foundation for the youth of the eighties to raise the level of the struggle even higher and shed all fear of the regime and its forces of repression. Even when the regime unleashed its naked brutality in what became the most brutal decade of repression, it had, in their eyes and hearts, lost its initial invincibility.
Time and again the demands of the struggle would place upon the youth unprecedented responsibilities and called on them to commit heroic feats that would help propel the struggle forward and resolve the most urgent and acute problems of our people. During this entire period of the struggle, both before and after 1976, the youth acted with the knowledge and conviction that their struggle was part of a people's war against racial tyranny and their interests as young people were integral and similar to those of the people as a whole.
They knew that only victory over apartheid would resolve their most fundamental yearning for a better and quality education and empowerment. The youth became the dynamic force of the struggle and its sharp end. Their patriotism reached new levels when they were engaged in the process, together with their people, to resolve the most intractable problems created by the system of racial capitalism.
Over time they understood that the liberation of Africa constituted a single process and that consequently our struggle was one with that of Africa's independence from colonial bondage. Thus we were able to recognise our struggle's inner unity with the continent-wide revolution in Africa as well as the anticolonial and progressive struggle throughout the world and to regard our pursuit of the African Renaissance as inseparable from that of our national democracy.
Through our struggle we were able to develop a common identity, solidarity and patriotism with Africa. It was for this reason that Africa as a whole was prepared to bear the brunt of apartheid and support our struggle at immense cost to our economic and political stability.
Only a supreme act of patriotism and sense of nationhood could deliver as heroic a feat as that delivered by the 1976 uprising. The fact is that historical events do not occur accidentally or in a vacuum. Accordingly, 16 June 1976 was indubitably produced by the confluence of social conditions and political climate that made it happen.
Any group of youth that found themselves in the same conditions and facing the same challenges as the youth of Soweto in 1976 would more or less have produced the same feats of struggle. The youth of 1976 discovered their mission on June 16. As they embarked on that fateful march that day, they had no prior knowledge of the sheer magnitude of their actions both domestically and internationally. They did not know that they held the destiny of their country in their hands and that they were about to write their own history and etch the name of their generation permanently on the archives of our nation's history.
When, therefore, we commemorate this momentous occasion we are dared once more to pose the question: What does it mean to be young in the South Africa and Africa of today? What must the youth of today do both to emulate the heroism of the past as well as to raise the level of the struggle in view of the challenges of the moment? When we attempt to define what those events meant then and what they mean, or should mean, now we must not commit the often repeated error subtly to communicate the message to today's youth that they are nothing when compared to those of yesteryear; that they do not measure up to them.
The story is told that the youth of the past committed acts of heroism which the present generation of youth is failing to live up to. The past was great, they are told, and the elderly generation was, as youth, a much better breed whereas the present generation is a huge disappointment. It often sounds like a statement that seems to suggest to the youth today that if they were faced with similar challenges as in 1944, the 1950s, the 1960s, in 1976 or the 1980s they would run and hide. But is this true?
The question is: If Tsietsi Mashinini or Kgotso Seatlholo were 16 years old in 2008, how would they have behaved? Or, if today's youth were in high school in 1976 and faced with precisely the same political challenges that faced the youth of that year, how would they have reacted? What did the youth of the past have that intrinsically distinguished them from those of today and made them natural heroes?
It is thus simply unfair to accuse today's youth of not being like the youth of the past when the social conditions and political climate that shaped and informed their thinking and action just does not exist today. It would be equally absurd to accuse the youth of the past of having lacked the sophistication and complexity of today's youth. The struggles fought and the victory scored in the past must continue to be conveyed from generation to generation, but the lesson of those struggles must be clear: Each generation must discover its mission and fulfil it.
Asking today's youth to become captives of the past, no matter how glorious that past was, will inhibit their search for their own mission and make its discovery nigh impossible. Out of the seeming slumber of the present a new uprising must and will happen. The lesson of 1976 is that simply because it seems calm it does not mean that there is no storm gathering force so that when it strikes the wool of self-delusion will be wiped away.
Today's youth must be inspired to commit their own heroic feats of struggle and write their epic tales. The watershed of our struggle must become the pathways to the future not to the past. They must inspire the present and future generations successfully to summit the vicious mountains of their own time. Heroes and heroines do not simply belong to the past, but the difficult challenges of today will breed new heroes and heroines.
We cannot underscore enough the point that South Africa today faces enormous challenges that require comprehensive and targeted responses if we must reverse inequality, poverty and underdevelopment. This is even more difficult under the conditions of globalisation which reinforce the current global power relations and patterns of inequality and underdevelopment. The result is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
At the same time, both within countries and at a global level, there is a tendency towards increasing depoliticisation as witnessed by the youth's increasing loss of interest and disengagement in politics and political processes such as democratic elections and political institutions. There is a decline in political and social consciousness as well as a decline in solidarity with the poor, especially amongst the middle-class youth. Many among our youth are failing to define their role in the South Africa and Africa of today. This sounds like a paradox especially at a time when we say that we demand more democracy and participation in decision-making.
The youth must resist the temptation of becoming indifferent and to stand idly and watch while others are constructing their future for them. They have an obligation to care about their own future and what it will look like.
It is common, though, that as democracy becomes ensconced, people tend to think that their lives will go on without politics and government, and begin to care less about what types of governments they have and what policies they are pursuing. They simply get on with their lives and lose interest in politics and democracy.
The aim of the democratic process which includes participation is thus negated by this diminishing role of civil society. The democratic process is a negation of social exclusion and marginalisation. This is more relevant in the South Africa of today which must take into consideration the impact of international migration and the need, therefore, consistently to define and redefine relations between various groups within our nation state.
International migration poses a direct challenge to our understanding of how we define ourselves as a nation, both in relation to one another as well as in relation to Africa as our mother continent. South Africa is regarded as one of the countries with the largest inflows of regular and irregular migrants.
Recent scenes of xenophobic attacks have tested our claim of being Africans and how we define ourselves in relation to other African people. Given that international migration is a growing phenomenon globally, we can no longer avoid engaging with this challenge. In order to continue to expand our perspective and combat xenophobia - which has phenomenally damaged our relations with fellow Africans in our country and our continent when there could have been other socioeconomic factors that could have contributed to the recent incidents - we must rebuild the pride of the South African youth in being African, and their knowledge and understanding of, passion for and solidarity with Africa.
This cannot happen only through lectures and school subjects, important as these obviously are, but must be forged and fostered through conscious programmes of interaction and exchange which should include encouraging them to travel to and work in Africa as exchange volunteers or even solidarity workers.
The fact is that while most of our youth aspire to travel to and may even identify with Western Europe and the United States, very few of them expect that they will travel to Africa or even identify with her difficulties.
The fact is that there is little person-to-person interaction with youth of other African states, and South Africans are obsessed with negative Western myths and stereotypes about Africa and Africans.
We're welcoming of the whites and Europeans in a manner that we are not applying to Africans, because we believe that the latter are below us and substandard, hence when they are in South Africa they are here to steal our jobs. Yet there is so much we can learn from the immense entrepreneurial spirit of the African immigrants, the wealth of their culture and the enormity of their spirit and resilience.
Much of what we know about Africa is largely informed by a popular media steeped in Afro-pessimism. We spend too much time trying to find that which distinguishes us from the rest of Africa. We enjoy being patted on the back by the West and likened to it. We then get surprised when our likeness with Africa is laid bare as though Africa was not one continent and all Africans one people.
The question is: How does it help us and our pursuit to be different from the rest of Africa? How did it happen that the strong sense of African solidarity and identity we forged during the struggle has so easily and quickly been discarded? South Africans can never claim to be citizens of the world until they have claimed and asserted their Africanness. It is when we embrace our identity as Africans that we can be embraced by humanity as whole as part of itself. Our very struggle against apartheid was premised precisely on the reclaiming of our Africanness and our humanity. The youth must thus be taught both that South Africa is an African country in Africa and that Africa is bound by a common destiny. Thank you. [Applause.]
House Chairperson, Deputy Minister, comrades and colleagues, I looked at all of you in the House as I was trying to figure out who is the same age as me. I know of one, though!
Chair, I want to say that when I look at myself and you, I think back to 32 years ago when I was a student at Fezeka High School in Gugulethu. The events of one Wednesday, 11 August 1976, in the Western Cape changed things. It's like it happened last year. None of those young students had it in their minds that one of them would be standing here today. I want to repeat the words I uttered yesterday: Viva the spirit of asijiki [no turning back]!
I-ANC ayizange ikhombe indlela iphinde ijike; kungoko ndisithi eyethu into ayiguqu-guquki. Ngabula Brenda, "indaba yethu istreyiti, ayifuni rula". [The ANC did not show us the way and then turn back; that is why I say we are not going to change. Like Brenda says, "Our business is straightforward, it does not need a ruler."]
For many years, young people in South Africa experienced very challenging conditions, including lack of opportunities, poor infrastructure and race- based access to education, training and development. They were exposed to high levels of crime and drug abuse.
Ukusekwa kweKhomishoni yoLutsha kweza nenguqu enkulu ebomini babantu abatsha. Amathuba abantu abatsha, ngakumbi abo babengakhathalelwe ngurhulumente wocalu-calulo, enza ukuba noko bazibone nabo bengabantu abanazo izakhono zokwakha eli lizwe, ukuze sonke sihlale ngolonwabo, Mnu Watson.
Kwakhona, ndikwafuna nokuthi masingenzi ngathi konke kulungile, kuba amandla olawulo engakuthi,. Nangoku kusekho ukungalingani ngebala, into leyo ke esele ibangwa kakhulu kukungalingani kweepokotho. Nangoku abasetyhini - okanye mandithi, Sekela-Mphathiswa, abesifazana, ukwenzela ungahambi ufunana nabasetyhini nje - ngakumbi abasemaphandleni, abakaxhamli , kwaye namathuba akakavuleleki kakhulu.
Ukuba sithetha ngokwebala, nangoku abantu abaninzi abangaphangeliyo ngabamnyama. Xa sisiza kumba wemfundo, mandithi ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.) [The establishment of the National Youth Commission brought about a big change in the lives of young people, especially those who were previously disadvantaged by the apartheid government. It made them feel like people who have the skills for building this country, so that all of us stay in peace, Mr Watson.
Again, I want to mention that we should not pretend that everything is well just because we are in power. Even now there is still discrimination based on skin colour. This practice is happening because we are not at the same economic level. Even now, the fairer sex - or let me say, Deputy Minister, women, to make it easy for you and so that you do not go around looking for the fairer sex - especially the ones from the rural areas, are not enjoying the privileges, and opportunities are still few.
If we talk colour, even now many of the people who are not working are black people. When it comes to the issue of education, let me say ...]
... for many years in South Africa, education was used as a key instrument in reinforcing the apartheid regime's racial policies and legislation. Many matriculants could not be employed. Today's government has recognised that for young people to be the future's economic foundation, it has to empower and invest in this sector. However, this is not how we would have liked things to be.
Yinqwelo ecothayo le, ifana nendlovu. Kambe ke, ngenye imini iya kufika apho iya khona. [This is a slow wagon; it is like an elephant. However, one day it shall reach its destination.] There is still a need to put more resources into this sector, which will assist with combating the many social challenges we are still faced with.
Kubantu abatsha ndifuna ukuthi, thathani inxaxheba ngoba amathuba emfundo avulelekile noko ngoku kweli lenu ixesha, kwaneendlela zokuphila nezomsebenzi zingcono. Ngelaa xesha lethu wawungaba ngutitshala, unesi okanye ube ngumabhalana nje. Ngeli ke ngoku ixesha noko siziguqule izinto, abantu baba ziinjineli, iijaji, ooprofesa, njl njl. Kaloku maninzi amathuba, kwaye nakwezemidlalo aphangalele. Siyabafuna abanye ooMakhaya Ntini okanye ooKhaya Malotana. Ndiyazi ke ukuba ndichaphazele umba obuhlungwana, onobuzaza nobuhlanga, kodwa ndicinga ukuba le Komiti kaQabane uTolo mayiwuqwalasele lo mba, ngoba uyafuna ukujongwa. Makungakhululeki abantu ababini sibaninzi kangaka. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[To young people I want to say, they must take part, because educational opportunities are open these days, and also the working and living conditions are better. During our days you could only be a teacher, nurse or just a clerk. Today things are different; people can be engineers, judges, professors, etc. Now the opportunities are many, even in sports. We want to have more people like Makhaya Ntini or Khaya Malotana. I know that I have touched a sensitive issue, which is racial and thorny, but I think this committee of Comrade Tolo could take serious note of it, because it needs special attention. Democracy is not for a few people; it is for all.]
Young women must involve themselves in the fight against sexism and discrimination.
Ngezingekho ezaa zinto zazenzeke phaya kwisitalato iNoord ukuba abantu abatsha bebeliqonda nabo igalelo labo. [If the young people knew how important their contribution was, what happened in Noord Street would have been avoided.]
The ANC's contract with the people encourages partnership with other partners against poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities. Let us do so by strengthening the resolution from our Polokwane conference on the merger of the National Youth Commission and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, and of course, other provincial initiatives.
Ndicinga ukuba siza kutsho siwubone umahluko, ngakumbi apha emaphondweni, nanjengabantu abamele amaphondo apha. Sinako ukuzenza kakhulu ezi nguqu. Mhlawumbi kuyafuneka ukuba sijonge namanani ekusebenzeni ezi zinto. Okwangoku izinto zingekaguquki ncam siyanyanzeleka. Mandiqgibezele ngelithi, kuloo maqhawe namaqhawekazi anikezela ngegazi lawo ukuze sikhululeke, igazi labo lisathetha. Nanjengoko i-ANCYL iza kuqgibezela inkomfa yayo, sinqwenelela inkomfa leyo isidima nesithozela kwesi sihlandlo, nanjengoko kulindelekile kwimibutho engaphantsi kwe-ANC. Ndiyabulela. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[I think we are going to see the difference, especially in the provinces, as people who represent the provinces here. We can make the difference. Maybe we should compare figures when we are working with these. For the time being we are forced to do so. Let me conclude by saying to those heroes and heroines who sacrificed with their blood in order for us to be free, their blood is still inspirational. As the ANCYL is going to finalise their conference, we wish them a dignified and peaceful one this time, as we also expect that from other structures which are under the ANC. I thank you.]
Hon Chairperson and members, I am frequently asked in public fora to reflect on the state of our nation on what the future holds. Without exception, when addressing young and old I make every effort to encourage everyone to take hold of all that is good in South Africa and to join me in the betterment of our society.
I value these opportunities because they afford me the chance to do something to reflect about where we are heading as a nation and whether I'm comfortable with the direction we are taking. I have had several such occasions recently and the best I can do is to share some of the insights that I have gleaned. We are all aware of the serious social challenges facing our country. I will not elaborate on them here. Yet it is worth noting that the youth of our country suffer the impact of those social challenges more than any other group. Youth unemployment is higher than the national average. Violent crime, we are informed, is almost exclusively committed by young males and substance abuse is most prevalent amongst the youth. Indeed, in the Western Cape, drugs, especially tik, have a vice-like grip on the youth in our community. In Atlantis, the community has been hit by a wave of teen date rape which has been used to fuel Internet pornography.
As distraught as the victims and their families feel, they are more disillusioned with the criminal justice system that seems to offer the perpetrators of crime too much opportunity to escape conviction.
Why is it that so many cases are thrown out of court? Is it because of poor investigation or the lack of will to confront the issues? Surely the heavy case loads and poor working conditions of social workers, police, public prosecutors and magistrates add to the problem of low morale and resulting inefficiency. The focus of the government should be to increase the number of well-qualified appointments in all these disciplines so that we are not seen to be failing society, especially our youth.
In another part of Cape Town, at the University of the Western Cape, I recently met a group of passionate young students who are studying to be teachers, but who can no longer afford their studies because there are no state bursaries available to those who do not major in Maths or Science. History, Afrikaans, Geography, Economics, Accountancy, etc, are overlooked because they are not seen to fall within the national priorities. Many of these students will be forced to give up their studies because of lack of finances. Other young teachers who have qualified and who are committed to serving our country in state schools are forced to look abroad to pay off their enormous student loans.
We need to look at more flexibility within our systems so that we can keep our young people in South Africa. I know of a young Science and Mathematics teacher who came to investigate teaching in South Africa, but had to return to England, disappointed, because he could not afford to live here and meet his commitments because of the poor salaries paid to teachers. Government needs to look at making it practical and affordable for young people to return to the land of their birth and to serve the nation as they would like to do. In a few weeks' time, learners will be enjoying the mid-year holidays, yet many of those learners will not be able to return to school next term and they will be forced to drop out to seek work or to be snapped up by the lure of drugs, gangsterism and a life of crime.
Government needs to sharpen its efforts at curbing crime. Sadly, those who do graduate are met with a job market where there is a dearth of opportunity. Unemployment and poverty are the source of much of what is wrong with our country. We need to look at an economy and a labour market that is less regulated and more encouraging of entrepreneurship. As legislators we must ask ourselves what more must still be done to ensure that the dreams of those youth who took to the streets in 1976 are realised in the free South Africa of 2008.
As politicians we have much to do. It strikes me that above all of these challenges, the youth of South Africa are tired; tired of a brand of politics which bickers and divides instead of offering more solutions. Instead of representing the differences in opinion of our people, political parties have come to be the cause of those differences. In doing so we have alienated our youth and made them become thoroughly disinterested in politics and politicians.
In 1996, our then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki inferred that we are all Africans, that we share a common heritage despite the different course of our histories. How far our nation has fallen from those lofty heights where we now have politics characterised by deep divisions and mutual suspicion! The youth of 2008, just like the youth of 1976, will not accept this status quo. I, for one, look forward to the youth leading a new social uprising, but a nonviolent one.
This time they will begin to demand leadership that begins with people not committees and commissions; leadership that understands that government is supposed to be inclusive and never exclusive and a leadership that is there for all the people.
The youth of 2008 are sending us a message that they are all African, that they love their country and are passionately devoted to its future. The challenge the youth today place at our feet is a challenge that resonates throughout our nation. Let us take up the challenge to work for a common patriotism for all the people of South Africa.
Chairperson, I think one must state from the outset that we are very disappointed as the ANC. We have so many political parties in Parliament and in this Council, but they do not find it necessary to participate in an important debate such as the youth debate, which has a very significant bearing on the future of our country.
Over and above that, we're raising this dissatisfaction as the ANC, taking note, of course, of the fact that in the past Budget Vote debates we've had in this House so many political parties participating in them consistently raised the issue of young people being excluded from the mainstream of the South African economy.
Perhaps our approach as we engage in this debate, hon Deputy Minister, should not stop us as the ANC from reflecting on the role of young people and the extent to which they have shaped this particular country. This takes us as far back as 1949 when the ANC Youth League took a decision and adopted a programme of action, which shaped the direction the country was supposed to take. It was that group of young people led by comrades Nelson Mandela, Anton Lembede and Sisulu who then took it upon themselves to say, "Our future is in our hands and there is no way this country can wait until tomorrow."
It is the very same young people of that generation who also contributed immensely leading up to the adoption of the Freedom Charter, when they volunteered to go on a door-to-door programme to ask our people what kind of South Africa they wanted to have.
It is these very same young people, once more, who, when matters could not get to a point where the regime could understand the need to ensure that South Africa was decolonised and no longer characterised by interests that sought to serve the few, then took a decision to form uMkhonto weSizwe, which was the military wing of the ANC.
It is these young people, who then sought to ensure that South Africa, with them at its helm, would never again become the country that it used to be. Under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, in the early sixties, it was the very same young people who were then able to agree to send out the very same commander-in-chief, Nelson Mandela, to Algeria to go and receive his first training on guerilla warfare to come and ensure that South Africa is free.
It was once again young people who played a very strategic role during the seventies by going out and organising workers in our country and ensuring that they conscientised those who were put at the periphery of the economy. This led to so many strikes, one of which was the potato strike, which played a very significant role in the organisation of the African workers in South Africa.
It therefore shows that the ANC as an organisation has played a very significant role in consistently conscientising young people, in consistently raising young people and ensuring that, in whatever way, they occupied the centre stage that led to our democracy. That is why 1976 did not come as a surprise. That is why in 1976, with the uprising and the mobilisation of young people, we then found a young person who also felt that there was no other way, and he had only one choice, which was to submit or fight - and that young person said, "I am going to fight in order to defeat this ugly system that does not agree with our views."
It is that very same young person who, if given a chance, would have played a very significant role today in the democracy that we are enjoying. But, unfortunately, in 1979 this young person left a very profound message behind which said: "Tell my mother that I love her and my blood will nourish the fruit of freedom." It is these young people who played this particular significant role that gave birth to a generation of young people under the leadership of Comrade Peter Mokaba, because of whom we are where we are today and nothing stops us, once more, from reflecting in that was on what is happening here.
It was once again a group of young people who, at the time when Africa was colonised by imperialism, when imperialism had entrenched itself so much so that there was no space to fight or to organise, were asked what it was that they would do in order to allow the freedom of others to perish or succeed.
There was a group of young people and women from the Caribbean country called Cuba who said, "Whatever it may cost", who left their country, who dedicated their lives, who joined those who were in the country and who fought alongside uMkhonto weSizwe to defeat the regime that was trying to ensure that it extended its tentacles into Africa to defeat the objective of achieving freedom in our country. Hence, today, because of the efforts of those young people, because of the dedication of those young people, because of the consistent encouragement of those young people who were able to drive that kind of battle, today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
Like those young people, once more, we, upon realising that we do have our freedom asked, perhaps as the Deputy Minister asked: what is it that we need to do to ensure that we keep up the momentum; to ensure that we don't lose track of our young people; that we keep the spirit that our young people had during that time and keep the level of consciousness to ensure that our young people feel like South Africans and that they are part of Africa and want to make a contribution, not only in Africa, but in the world at large?
Are we doing enough? That is the question we need to be asking ourselves as hon members in this august House. Are we saying, with the level of consumerism that has found expression amongst our young people, that we are doing enough? Are we saying we are doing enough if for a young person to see himself as a successful person he thinks he must be better than the others?
Are we saying that we are doing enough as members of this august House to inculcate a spirit of co-operation amongst our young people for them not to see themselves as individuals, but as part of a collective; for them to see themselves as part of a generation that needs to launch its own struggle. I don't know whether it is an insurrection or whatever that the hon member from the DA was relating to.
With the remaining seconds that I'm left with, it is important, of course, to reflect and say that our programme in this Parliament, our experiences in our constituencies, have taught us that there are many challenges that our young people are experiencing out there. Hence there is no way as the ANC that we can stop encouraging and ensuring that the 52nd resolution of the ANC is implemented to ensure that there is an integrated approach in dealing with problems of young people rather than to have disjointed and anecdotal approaches.
On that basis, Chairperson, I thank you very much and hope that the political parties that did not participate in this debate ... as I encouraged the hon Mzizi this afternoon, if not this morning, by saying to him I hoped he would represent the views of the youth brigade so that we begin to look at whether it is still relevant today in our country. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, I thank you for an interesting though brief debate. It is important to emphasise that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme is available to all students in the universities of our country.
We must, of course, raise concerns about the rising fees of our tertiary education institutions. Our tertiary education is becoming inaccessible to the poor and working class; tuition fees continue to rise. If we don't deal with this matter, the circle of poverty may not be broken because it is only the children of those who can afford it who will then gain access to higher education, and the children of the poor and working class will remain in learnerships and the National Youth Service Programme only. It is therefore important that this matter should be raised continually so as to succeed in appealling to the conscience of our universities and their councils to ensure that higher education becomes accessible to the majority of our youth. We have to do that because we need to keep as many young people within the education system as possible.
At present, out of all the young people who graduate from Grade 12 every year, only about 10% will gain access to the universities. What happens to the rest, because there is not enough employment? So most of our youth would then be thrown into the growing pool of the unemployed.
There is a need to address youth unemployment because you cannot have, in such a society such as ours, large numbers of latent energy idling unused, because if it's not used, it will express itself in other ways, including in particular in socially deviant ways such as crime and alcoholism. I also want to say that there is nothing unique in South Africa about youth participation in politics.
Globalisation internationally creates these conditions where young people increasingly disengage; their consciousness declines. Their civic, political and social consciousness declines and politics becomes a spectator sport. As we correctly say, there has never been a decade in South Africa in which the youth did not play a role in the struggle. The question is, now that the struggle has been won, what is it that we are supposed to do? What are political organisations doing to mobilise the youth to deepen their political and social activism, to raise the level of their political, social and civic consciousness as well as their responsibility? What are we doing to raise the level of leadership and the all-round competencies of the youth?
It doesn't help to stand on podiums and complain when you see that all over our country there isn't sufficient investment in youth organisations and their autonomous existence. The autonomous existence of youth organisations affords the youth the opportunity to make mistakes and, indeed, young people have to make mistakes; that's the only way to learn. The older generations, instead of standing above the youth judging them and reminding them about what a good breed they were in the past, need instead to engage young people to help them to correct the mistakes that they may be committing.
Take for example the fact that in South Africa we've got preventable diseases such as cholera, including HIV; they are all preventable. We have thousands of youth at universities, what do they do? How are we engaging these young people in the Eastern Cape, in Delmas in Mpumalanga, to educate those communities about the usage of water, about hygiene, about healthy lifestyles?
As political organisations, we have a responsibility not to join the chorus of those who lament declining consciousness and activism but to do something instead to build strong youth movements that are able to intervene when our people are facing acute challenges as they are at present. Similarly, it is good to criticise, but it is better to suggest what can be done to correct what you think is a mistake.
Youth development in our country has not received the level of attention it requires, especially from the private sector which possesses the largest volumes of capital to be able to intervene in the socioeconomic conditions of the youth, as well as civil society in general, including government departments. Many try but there are many that can still do better.
We have the National Youth Service Programme, but if we dedicated more resources than we have done so far, we would be in a much better condition to intervene in the situation of the youth to give them hope, to inspire them to strive for new uprisings in the fields of education, health, science and technology and social life in our country.
We must view youth development and youth mobilisation as two sides of the same coin and adhere to the principle or to the slogan "Youth mobilisation for youth development and youth development for youth mobilisation", because these two things are inseparable from one another. We have to encourage our youth to seize the opportunities of democracy.
It is incorrect to argue that there is a dearth of opportunity in our society. An amount of R562 billion is spent in the Budget, of which 60% is for social services in this financial year; this Budget has been growing. We have to find ways to use this budget; not in the usual old ways of doing things but to intervene in the situation of the youth. Because if we don't, we must bear in mind that youth unemployment constitutes 70% of all unemployment in the country and that these unemployed youth don't have skills either.
If we don't intervene in that, we will have great difficulty in addressing the challenges of building South Africa into the future, of inspiring the youth, of instilling hope in them so that they are able to carry the hopes of our nation and raise the level of our nation's struggles and pursuits to higher levels.
It is important that we continue to engage young people in these debates and, above all else, to be winners ourselves so that we are able better to support the youth. Thank you very much.
Debate concluded.