23 November 2005

Mr. Sipho Ngwetsheni, Executive Director of the Centre for Youth Development

Mr. Charles Motlhaping, Department of Labour

Mr. J. Oliver, Mogale Chamber of Commerce

Mr. Sizwe Shezi, South African Youth Council

Mr. Fikile Mbalula, ANC Youth League

Invited guests

Young people of Mogale City:

On the occasion of the official opening of the first session of Mogale City's Centre for Youth Development Youth Seminar, I am privileged to convey my congratulations and thanks to all young people gathered here today for participating in activities and programmes that concern themselves with confronting the challenges and problems facing the youth. I would also like to extend the same congratulations and thanks to those young people that are not here today, but also engage in similar programmes.

I am certain that the deliberations you are going to engage in over today and tomorrow will be progressive and solution-driven, while not ignoring the root-causes of the problems our young people face today. I take comfort and courage, therefore, in the possibilities that will come out of this seminar, for they will be informed by progressive, root-cause focused and solution-driven deliberations.

I wish you success in your work as you thrash out these challenges and problems and as you seek to come up with ways and means of strengthening youth upliftment and promoting healthy and positive living for our young people.

I would also like to thank and commend the ANC Youth League, the South African Youth Council, the National Youth Commission, the Treatment Action Campaign, Lifeline West Rand, AIDS Law Project, the Mogale Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Labour and the Department of Social Welfare for their participation in this seminar. Your hard work will leave a lasting legacy not just in Mogale City, but in the rest of our beloved land.

All of us have watched with great concern the unfolding of our second and last local government registration opportunity before the election. While newspaper reports on Monday referred to a 'moderate" turnout of people to register this past weekend at the 19 000 registration stations, the Independent Electoral Commission yesterday reported that it was satisfied with registration results. The IEC reports that over one million (1 068 569) registered over the weekend for the Municipal Elections due to take place on 1 March 2006. A total of 413 666 new registrations were made while 654 903 voters re-registered. More than 600 000 voters inspected their details on the voters' roll. This gives a turnout of close to 2 million people who visited the voting stations over the weekend. Since the national and provincial elections of 2004 a total of 736 072 new voters were added to the voters' roll during various targeted registration campaigns and the registration day held earlier this year. By adding the past weekend's new registrations the total of new voters who have been added to the voters' roll over the past 18 months adds up to 1 149 738.

The IEC further reports that the youth of South Africa again came out in large numbers to register. There has been a steady increase in registrations of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years since the first elections in 1999, proving the success of the IEC communication campaign which is especially focused on the youth of South Africa in metros and urban areas. I know that a major contributor for the increase also has to do with activities of youth structures, certainly within Mogale City. So I would personally like to thank the Centre for Youth Development, the Mogale City Local Youth Forum, and many other structures that engage young people about the need to participate in events that affect their lives and their communities.

Gauteng has the third highest new registrations at 55 529, after KZN (116 911) and the Eastern Cape (77 954). In terms of re-registrations KZN also lead with 128 970, followed by Gauteng with 99 757 and Eastern Cape with 85 977. The IEC has welcomed requests for a detailed breakdown, and I would like to challenge everyone gathered here today, but especially the Mogale City Local Youth Forum and the Centre for Youth Development to interrogate this information in relation to the youth in the country, in our province and in our city. I would welcome an analysis of this information, so that it informs our programmes going forward. We have to do so, because while in other parts of the country there has been turmoil around municipal structures, we in Mogale City have experienced positive vibes from our communities. I have to mention this because this is not accidental. It is because of the focus we have been giving on understanding community needs, going out to listen to residents' views and needs, and prioritizing accordingly. It is because we have done everything necessary to re-align our entire operation so that it is properly geared towards superior service delivery. We are not there yet, but we have certainly achieved a lot. With the help of young people, we can accelerate the pace at which we pursue our objectives. Let me also inform you that the IEC has also welcomed those voters who are not yet registered, and has invited them to do so by registering at the office of the Municipal Electoral Officer in their municipalities. I call on you to continue to encourage people, young and old, to approach these offices and register so that we can continue to sustain our hard-fought democracy. Programme Director we have to ask though, as to whether the level of youth registration for elections in general and this coming municipal election in particular is enough! It is perhaps fitting that this seminar takes place three days after this registration weekend, so that you can challenge yourselves as young people in relation to your obligations as citizens of this city and of the Republic. Perhaps this seminar has omitted an equally important and significant part of the challenges facing the youth in our country, and that is the duties and obligations that come with our call for employment opportunities and disease eradication in general and the eradication of HIV/AIDS in particular. I am putting this challenge to this seminar, and I look forward to the outcome.

This seminar will be focusing on youth unemployment and HIV/AIDS.

I think it is appropriate to focus on addressing challenges around youth unemployment, and isolate the role that is and can be played by the different stakeholders in tackling the matter. Our country has been about recognizing and appreciating the good that can come out of different sections, and actually harmonizing the different angles to create a winning formula. We have always been about recognizing the power of joining our hands together. So too must our young people. This harmonizing role must be played by you, so that the solutions and outcomes are focused on what young people themselves have identified as key areas.

Programme Director, it has been said over and over again, that education is the key to unlocking the full potential of our country's youth. If we are to lift South Africa and Africa from her current circumstances, we will need a generation of young people and thereby learners who are curious about the world they live in and have the tools to understand and shape that world. In our view, most of the tools have been made available through a variety of government institutions and prorammes specifically targeted at young people. We also think that this education, this curiosity, is not only about formal education. As young people you must seek to understand and master ways and means of identifying business opportunities and accessing them for example, the same way as we would understand biology, mathematics and so on. As young people you need to be curious about your city and your country. You need to ask questions about anything and everything. When you walk around everywhere, for some of you, when you drive around everywhere, you need to always ask yourself "Who owns this?" "How was this put together?" and so no.

I attended a seminar on entrepreneurship some years back. A young man rose to ask "How and who can form or be part of a consortium?" I sat there thinking, it sounds to me like the real question was "What is a consortium?" I was concerned that at a stage where our country is forging ahead with things like Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment with specific focus on certain groups including the youth, we still sit with basic questions around what a consortium is. Of course, I was pleased at the same time that the young person was curious and sought to understand the world he lives in. We need to isolate this issue and interrogate it, with the view of developing some concrete steps to raise the level of curiosity and thus create an informed youth.

The Honorable Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, reported recently that the unemployment rate for youths aged between 16 and 25 is at a shocking 52% in South Africa. It is even more shocking that in comparison, the national average for all ages is 26, 5%. For me, the biggest shock is that this rate goes against the fact that jobs are being created in South Africa. The Minister reports that between 2000 and 2003, 194 000 new jobs were created, a rate higher than the national average. This is not unique to South Africa, because we know of several other countries experiencing the same problem. I know, as does Minister Manuel, that a large part of the answer lies in the need to accelerate the attainment of new skills and the upgrading of available skills. As a city we have embarked on a number of programmes aimed at aiding exactly that. We do need forums of this nature to engage us as a municipality, and join hands to find improved ways of achieving this. We have been consistent in making this call, and we will continue to do so.

With regard to the issue of HIV/AIDS, we agree, in line with national and provincial government policy, that our approach must be comprehensive and holistic, and not just single out one form of intervention and present that as the answer. We must challenge ourselves around the question of prevention as much as we deal with the question of treatment. Our approach to treatment too, must be comprehensive, holistic and realistic given the material conditions on the ground. This is too big a problem for simplistic and narrow-minded solutions. A lot has been debated around this issue. Ours is a comprehensive, holistic and realistic approach. Let's strengthen our efforts in this area. Our nation expects nothing less.

Programme Director, this is what this seminar means to us as a municipality, and for young people in this city and in the rest of South Africa. We are firmly of the belief that this is what should characterize the youth in the second decade of democracy. We are your partners in this and other efforts. Make use of us!

I thank you and God bless you all.

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