Hon Chairperson of the day, hon members of the House, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, it is the submission of the National Freedom Party that, firstly, the issue of youth affairs should not be prioritised for the month of June only.
The youth represent a large number of the population of this country. We should be talking about these issues every day, not only when we commemorate the heroes of June 16. The youth of South Africa are facing the serious challenges of a skills shortage, a high rate of unemployment, HIV/Aids and drug abuse. Among these challenges, unemployment counts as a serious one. Even those who are employed are still the victims of labour brokers, which we say, as the NFP, should be scrapped by the government as a matter of urgency.
Our submission as the NFP is that skills development is one of the important strategies to tackle the problem of the scarcity of labour. We therefore urge the Department of Higher Education to put up more funding for FET colleges and build more new FET colleges, especially in townships and rural areas. We all know that the country is still in need of a number of artisans, therefore FET colleges should become a priority for the current government.
We also wish to submit that this House should review the role of the National Youth Development Agency, the NYDA, its functions, duties, goals and objectives. This is the structure that was formed to help the youth of this country, but it is unknown to the youth of rural areas and those in townships. It is not visible and vocal in youth affairs. We only learnt about this structure when there were some corrupt activities going on. We therefore believe that we need to revisit the necessity of the structure, which continues to waste the money meant for the youth of this country.
We also wish to submit to the Department of Basic Education, hon Minister of Basic Education, that one of the things which we believe can tackle the issue of unemployment is to review the curriculum at the basic education phase and include important subjects like driving lessons as well as accredited computer certificates at matric level. We believe that should a young person leave school with a valid driver's licence and a recognised computer certificate accredited by Umalusi, together with a matric certificate, this could also help those who cannot afford higher education to get employment at that particular level. Lastly, Comrade Chair ... Thank you, sir. [Time expired.] [Applause.]