National Youth Commissioners: interviews

Meeting report

CHILDREN, YOUTH AND DISABLED PERSONS JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
24 May 2006
NATIONAL YOUTH COMMISSIONERS: INTERVIEWS

Chairperson: Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC)

Documents handed out:
File containing list of candidates and the candidates’ CVs
[PMG did not receive this file because it contained personal information about the candidates]
Evaluation form

SUMMARY
The Committee conducted interviews for Commissioners to serve on the National Youth Commission. Eleven interviews were conducted at this meeting. A further four interviews will be conducted on 26 May.

Throughout the interviews, the nominees gave their vision of what the role of the Youth Commission should be in improving the lives of South African youth. Most felt that the Commission was being hampered as it had only monitoring powers and was not able to really implement youth policies set elsewhere.

MINUTES
The Chair announced that, in accordance with the National Youth Act of 1996, five Commissioners would be chosen to serve on the National Youth Commission (NYC). The Committee is charged with recommending five candidates to Parliament. Parliament will then recommend five candidates to the President. The President decides who the new Commissioners will be. The Committee advertised the positions and received 54 applications. Out of these applications, 16 persons were short listed for interviews. 15 nominees will attend the interviews conducted on 24 and 26 May. 11 candidates will be interviewed today (24 May 2006).The remaining four candidates will be interviewed on 26 May. A summary of 11 of these interviews follow.

1. Mr X Mojola (Western Cape)
Mr Mojola has amongst other been involved in the student movement as a provincial chairperson in Western Cape. Youth are wrongly assumed to be immature and need to take control to ensure their rights and receive acknowledgement of their skills. The NYCs main challenge is that it has no power to implement policy, only to make recommendations. A Ministry that deal exclusively with youth issues and have implementation powers can help to solve this problem. The NYC should study researchable areas like skills development and leadership and how policy impact on skills development. Discrimination against women should be discouraged and equal opportunity ensured.

2. Ms N Kondlo (Western Cape)
Ms Kondlo has been active in youth issues since primary school. She has amongst other things been involved in the Young Women Project in Cape Town, whose objective is to mobilise women from various backgrounds and get them involved in issues that concern them. At a study tour to the Youth Commission in Belgium (YCB) she observed that the YCB was more mobilised, structured and acknowledged by the government. She finds the statement that the youth is apathetic offensive because the youth is very much involved. A mobilisation of youth is however needed and she took inspiration from the Cuban experience. The NYCs main challenge is to communicate its mandate to the youth, because they have too high expectations. The NYC can only monitor the government; it is the government that creates the political programmes. The youth sector should evaluate the NYC and discuss the establishment of a Youth Ministry. She thinks she can provide the necessary leadership to the NYC. Gender equality is a Human Right, and should be ensured. Disabled people should be integrated in society, but have special needs and should organise to champion their interests.


3. Mr E van Rooyen (Western Cape)
Mr van Rooyen was in the Student Council in High School and has been involved in youth development in George since. Mobilisation and building strong structures with strong partners is a key issue for the NYC. The past generation of youth had a common vision to remove the apartheid system. Now there are more problems in mobilising the youth, for instance to vote. The NYC and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) should merge into a National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). The agency should have power to implement policies. Rural youth should not be left out in policy making. He described himself as a visionary leader and a team player. He also has international fundraising experience. The imbalance between the sexes is a challenge and equality must be acknowledged and ensured. A policy for integration of the disabled should be implemented with penalties for those who did not comply with the conditions.

4. Mr M Nkhwashu (Gauteng)
Mr Nkhwashu has been involved in disability issues since he got polio at age one. He is currently working with the Council for People with Disabilities. Future leaders are among the youth, and programmes for youth should be integrated in every department. South Africa has political freedom but economic empowerment is needed for certain groups, like the disabled. The main challenge for the disabled is accessibility but very little have been done by the NYC in this area. Women are marginalised in South Africa and gender equality should be a goal.

5. Ms V Tulelo (Gauteng)
Ms Tulelo is a current member of the NYC. She has been involved in politics since her days as a student and is Deputy Secretary of the ANC Youth League. People have to participate in their communities to be respectable citizens. Her view is that the youth is very much involved. The NYC has only power to lobby, monitor and advocate. This frustrates people because they want action, and it is time to give the NYC power to implement policies. The NYC has fulfilled its mandate to make policy and has partly managed to communicate this policy to the government. The NYC has largely failed at its mandate to lobby and advocate, due to lack of capacity and resources. She had high integrity and serves the NYC at the interest of the youth and not to empower the ANC. Her biggest asset is her ability to speak to people across racial lines since she speaks all the African languages and Afrikaans. The problems regarding globalisation, for instance "brain drain" must be addressed.

6. Ms N Sibhida (Gauteng)
Ms Sibhida has been involved with Non Governmental Institutions (NGOs) since she was 14-15 years old. She disagrees that the youth is apathetic. The past generation had a common evil to fight against; the apartheid system, but young people are still active. NYCs challenges are: absence of implementation power; lack of resources; and deficient cooperation with other institutions. The NYC and the UYF should merge since they do not communicate with each other and often starts on similar projects. She used to be a member of a provincial Youth Commission. The challenges for the provincial YC were a lack of resources, difficulty communicating its role to the public and deficient legislation. The YCs will hopefully be public entities by June-July. Everybody, including women and disabled persons, should be ensured full participation in society.

7. Mr D Kham (Gauteng)
Mr Kham has been involved in youth politics since High School. He has been involved with the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) since he was a student in Johannesburg. He does not believe in labeling and did not agree that the youth is apathetic. The youth must face the challenges of HIV/AIDS, drugs, violence, crime, illiteracy, poverty etc. The government established the NYC because it takes the youth seriously and wants to solve these problems. The NYC and the UYF are platforms for youth organisations. The NYC and the UYF should merge into a NYDA to create an integrated strategy, and the NYDA should have implementation power.

8. Mr K Ntshangase (Tswane)
Mr Ntshangase was on the, no longer functioning, Commission on Society and has worked indirectly with the NYC. He believes the claim of youth being apathetic is wrong. The NYCs challenges are lack of implementation powers; lack of coordination; bad management and lack of communication with the youth and other structures in society. The role of the elite is to take the people along but the elite is talking too much and are only ensuring their own rights. South Africa should strive to be an inclusive society and discriminated groups need special attention. Disabled people must be integrated in society and a youth desk should be established in every community.

9. Ms L Chetty (Tswane)
Ms Chetty is working at the Department of Education with communication matters. She has been involved with the Youth Communist League (YCL) since she was in school. Many youth are not aware of the history and the political situation, and a new curriculum should be introduced in schools to improve this situation. The positive effects of globalisation are too few and capitalism is having a very negative effect on third world countries. After eleven years of democracy South Africa still struggles with illiteracy. She referred to the Cuban literacy model where great results were achieved in a short time with little resources and claimed that South Africa must be more radical. Disabled youth should not be isolated.

10. Mr P Africa (North West)
Mr Africa has a background in the disability sector but has a broad perspective of youth. The youth should move as one force. The youth of the past generation achieved a lot but he did not believe in the stereotype that the youth is apathetic. The country struggles with challenges like illiteracy; Africans being marginalised as a group; unemployment; and teenage pregnancy. The legacy does not ensure full participation from the youth and fails to address these issues. He claimed to have broad understanding of politics since he has been working as an assistant Secretary General for an NGO, amongst others. He also claimed to be a democratic leader. Women play an important role in youth development as mothers and participants in society and should be treated with respect. Equality of the sexes should be ensured. Mr Africa had to interrupt the interview for medical reasons. He came back to finish the interview after Mr Sipuka. Mr M Moss (ANC) ensured him that this would not influence the Committee’s decision.

11. Mr O Sipuka (Eastern Cape)
Mr Sipuka has been involved with the youth movement for seven years. He has, among other things, been Press Secretary for the YCL. According to the NY Act the objects are to coordinate policy, develop guidelines, ensure cooperation and raise questions of redress. Women and disabled persons should participate in the process and all sectors should strive to ensure gender equality. A mass mobilisation in civil society is the key to raising youth issues. He did however not see the youth as apathetic. His role in the NYC is to make sure that the disabled are allowed to take part. Disabled persons should be put back in society where they belonged.

Meeting adjourned.