PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has called on youth in the country to be the builders of the new South Africa, saying for its part government will live up to its commitment of providing skills training and funds. For this reason, he urged young people to register for the upcoming local government elections that will be held either later this year or early next year.
Addressing the main Youth Day rally here in the Northern Cape today, Mr Mbeki said "We should always remind ourselves about the objectives of the 1976 youth who fought for our freedom and democracy. They fought that all who live in South Africa should live in a free country, and that South Africa should belong to all who live in it. All our youth should become builders of the new South Africa and they should receive the necessary skills," he said.
He told the thousands of people who had gathered at Absa stadium that government would ensure quality education, so the dignity thereof was restored.
He warned teachers who came to school drunk and those who sexually exploited young girls and said government would correct past mistakes of under funding for colleges, saying no learner should be excluded from learning due to lack of funds.
He alluded to the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) that government established last year to impart skills to young people.
He added that the Umsobomvu Youth Fund was doing "a good job" in ensuring that young people established their own businesses. "We should continue to make sure that our youth have access to government's information and that they are also given opportunity to gain skills that will enable them to continue with their trades. Mbeki also came hard on mothers who abused the child support grant and used them to buy alcohol saying the money was meant for children.
He also used the opportunity to call on the parents to ensure that all children who qualified for the grants were registered to receive them.
Regarding lack of classrooms in some parts of the country, the President promised that government was working to ensure that no child was learning under trees, places where there was no water and electricity.
Addressing the same event, National Youth Commission Chairperson Jabu Mbalula called on the private sector to respond to the challenges faced by the youth.
Mbalula appealed to all sectors of society to open doors to assist the unemployed youth. "We all need to join hands in solidarity to develop our youth," he said.
He also applauded the EPWP and the community development workers in responding to the challenges faced by the youth.
"We are deeply encouraged by government's commitment in ensuring that our youth have necessary skills. He also committed the Cmmission to developing a strategy to engage the society in eradicating the attitude that young people were a threat to the adult population already in the market.
"The Commission will continue to engage government departments through the inter-departmental committee on youth affairs and clusters at all levels to ensure that there is equity," he said. Since the dawn of democracy government has made strides in developing the country's youth through the establishment of the NYC and Umsobomvu Youth Fund.
Another government initiative in the upliftment of the youth includes the National Youth Service Programme aimed at imparting developmental skills.
Source: BuaNews
Presentation for Seminar
