Thank you, Madam Speaker, Ministers and their Deputies, fellow MPs and members of the public.
Maqabane, lutsha lwakuthi eMzantsi Afrika luphelele - nditsho iintlanga zonke ngobuninzi bazo - xa sisondela ekubhiyozeleni i-100 leminyaka ekho uKhongolozi, kunye nengama-32 sibhiyozela uSuku loLutsha, makhe sijonge, siphicothe ukuba ulutsha olu, umbuso kunye noluntu lwenza ntoni ukukhe lududule luxhentsise ulutsha ukwenzela ukuba lube kwinqanaba lokuba lube nenkathalo kwaye luqiniseke ngobuntu balo.
Bathi ke: "Umthi ugotywa usemtsha." (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[Comrades, youth of South Africa - I refer to all people of racial groups that are here - as we approach the 100 years celebration since the ANC was established, and 32 years of celebrating Youth Day, let us examine and explore what the organisation and the community have done to keep the youth occupied in order to become responsible and feel proud about their humanity.
An old saying goes: "Teach them young."]
Any creative practitioner of an ideology will target youth as an integral part of sustaining that ideology throughout generations and millennia. However, it is only a supreme ideology that stands the test of time. As we all know, most organisations have youth wings to fulfil these needs.
Uthi umntu: "Izikumkani ziya kubhanga zitsho zife"... [The saying goes: "Even kingdoms will fall and perish one day ...]
... but an ideology of the highest development, built on humanity's best values, will prevail. It is such an ideology that then generates genuine and everlasting patriotism. It brings peace and prosperity to each country, as well as nation-building.
While advancing a case for patriotic youth, my concern is about the role and impact of various agents of socialisation, especially the media. A substantial portion of the content that is beamed out by the SABC is definitely not conducive to efforts that foster patriotism. It is a very minute number of programmes that can be identified as being well-disposed to productively building a young mind and therefore preparing it for nation- building.
Madam Speaker, 16 June was also a manifestation of selfless devotion, sacrifice without expecting material reward, and above all, a bedrock of genuine patriotism. The youth of 1976 were prepared to die for a cause that would last and benefit later generations.
Madiba, as the first champion of a rainbow South Africa, had this to say in this very Parliament on 6 February 1998:
To find a lasting solution to all these challenges requires a community spirit amongst all of us - a new patriotism, which finds root within the populace. We must build our nation into a community of citizens who appreciate their civic duty as each one of us improves our well-being.
However, at times we need to ask ourselves the extent to which the dominant value system in our country either adds value to or unfortunately undermines the noble efforts of conscientising the youth on various issues such as HIV/Aids, mobilising the youth into active participation in the transformation of our country and building a prosperous Africa and a new world order, just to name a few.
At any stage of societal development, the morality of society is always a function of both political and ideological consciousness. Comrade Castro once said, and I quote:
But our work is not a work of stone, is not of materials, but of consciousness, of moral values. And that is lasting. We need youth that are internationalist in their outlook and conduct, because internationalism is also about caring for our neighbours, including children, the elderly, those who are fragile, and all who may be of foreign origin.
What is then expected of the youth? At its 22nd national conference in 2004, the ANC Youth League resolved to -
... create a volunteer youth corps to build a spirit of volunteerism and patriotism in South Africa, especially in the run up to World Cup 2010.
Appreciating the legacy of caring about others through volunteerism, as has been championed by our leaders, ought to be one of the prime objectives for the youth in its campaigns for a better life for all.
What is expected of the youth, irrespective of race, colour, creed or political affiliation, is to respond to this call in large numbers. Let us use this opportunity for the youth to discover itself as leaders as well as citizens of the future.
Challenges that face our country when it comes to preparing the youth for a caring society are, among other things, degenerate values as espoused through decadent movies, sexual perversion, consumerism which is propelled by materialistic values, racism and xenophobia and practices that take advantage and exploit the labour of the youth due to their desperation for jobs.
How do we then, as the state and civil society, create an enabling environment for the youth's participation in building a caring society and renewing humanity's best values?
Both state and progressive civil society - and I emphasise progressive civil society - are waging a raging battle to create the correct environment for the youth to be shaped as patriotic citizens. Given that socialisation and even resocialisation is never politically neutral, South Africa faces the challenge of ensuring that the content and character of the information communicated, through primarily the SABC and printed media, embodies patriotism. For patriotism to thrive amongst the youth in South Africa, whatever initiative, campaign or effort is mounted to promote it, due sensitivity to diversity of cultures is of paramount importance.
Given that our country has made strides in caring for the disabled within such a short time, the UN has decided to pilot the implementation of its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, here in South Africa. Such a decision could not have been taken lightly, and the youth, in particular, has all the energy to drive the pilot programme to a resounding success. Throughout our revolution, the youth, under the banner of the ANC, through the guidance of the Youth League and allied organisations, has always replenished the leadership echelons.
Morality, as well as its generation, extends beyond mere respect for the elderly; it means respect for nature, the air we breathe and the water we drink. It means respect for life itself.
There is a symbiotic relationship between patriotism and humanity's best values. We South Africans have ably captured this in the Bill of Rights. It is high time we ensure that every time we celebrate 16 June, Youth Day, we also advance this noble cause.