Chairperson of the NCOP, Your Excellency the President, the hon Deputy President, Madam Chief Whip, fellow Members of the Parliament, all dignitaries and the president of South African Local Government
Association, Salga, I need to say that specifically so that the home province can account.
Tshiven?a:
Ndi masiari avhu?i.
English:
This state of the nation address and its debate are taking place when the country is still commemorating the 43rd year since the June 16 student uprisings. As you have said, Mr President, we cannot impose our solutions on the youth; everything we have to do must be led by young people themselves.
Just to recommit to the announcement we made at your pre-state of the nation engagement with young people and as a special gesture to the national Youth Day commemoration, we shall fund 43 young entrepreneurs drawn mainly from the National Youth Development Agency. This funding is available to support the sustainability and expansion of the businesses of those entrepreneurs.
We are targeting young entrepreneurs who can create a minimum of
10 jobs, because we already know, hon Hill-Lewis, that entrepreneurs create jobs.
Instead of me freezing on my maiden speech, the technology is freezing on me, but as any other person, I always feel safe and have a backup plan. Yes, it is my maiden speech. Can I not be heckled?