Hansard: Youth Day Debate: Working together to build limited opportunities for the youth for a better South Africa
House: National Council of Provinces
Date of Meeting: 07 Jun 2012
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Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 99
FRIDAY, 08 JUNE 2012
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
_____
The Council met at 09:23.
The Deputy Chairperson (Ms T C Memela) took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon members, may I apologise for the change of time for starting today. It wasn't of our own making. Unfortunately the Minister, who is supposed to be the first speaker on the list, landed late and we were only told then. We then had to ask for a delay of 30 minutes. I apologise to everybody for the inconvenience.
Mr D V BLOEM: Deputy Chairperson, it is no problem.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): I have been informed that the Whippery has agreed that there will be no notices of motion or motions without notice today.
WELCOMING OF YOUTH TO YOUTH DAY DEBATE
(Announcement)
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): At this juncture, may I welcome the youth in the gallery and say that we should walk together. It is Youth Month. Thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 99
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP
YOUTH DAY DEBATE: WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE YOUTH FOR A BETTER SOUTH AFRICA
(Subject for Discussion)
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Hon Deputy Chairperson; hon members; hon premier, good morning; the representatives of the different political parties; the youth with us today; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen; thank you very much for inviting me and allowing me this platform to honour such an important day for our youth. We were once there, and we know what it feels like.
Colleagues, as I stand before you, having passed the stage of being a youth, I am aware of the challenges facing the youth of this country today. It is not a new situation or challenge that we, and especially the youth, find us in.
I too was once in that particular category, but I would like to emphasise that the environment and conditions we live under change over time, for better or for worse. I must say, the situation facing you today is getting worse and something must be done. These are difficult times, and painful decisions need to be made.
Colleagues, let me open my speech with a quote from Henry Wadsworth who said, "Youth comes but once in a lifetime". I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to you. In a lifetime, we experience some things only once.
Colleagues, you would also realise that part of the situation confronting us in dealing with the youth crisis is the number of different definitions of the term "youth". This tends to distort the unemployment figures.
I am not here to give a definition, but to emphasise the magnitude of the problem, regardless of a definition. If over 50% of the youth in the country is unemployed, or rather, have not had a job in the last five years – and a large portion of the statistics reports this to be the case in the rural areas – what does it mean for your future as young people?
What does it mean for your future as an individual, for the future of young black females and for the future of our children? Remember that people, particularly the youth, are an important factor of production in the economy, namely labour. However, I would like to encourage young people to start thinking in a different way and to see themselves as employers, as entrepreneurs, as leaders of change and as responsible citizens.
It should be noted that high levels of unemployment are not only costly to the individual and families, but also to local and regional economies and the economy in general.
Unemployment causes a waste of scarce economic resources and reduces the long-term growth potential of the economy. For instance, research shows that if a young person is unemployed for about three months to 12 months, he or she has, on average, a 25% chance of finding a job. If the unemployment period is between one year and five years, there is only a 12% chance of finding a job.
The causes of such high levels of unemployment among young people are widespread and are clearly articulated in research and policy documents. These causes have also been pronounced on by government leaders, and some of these are painful. These causes, amongst other things, include: an economy that has not grown satisfactorily in order to be able to absorb the young people exiting the schooling system.
This reflects the structural weaknesses of the country, namely a weak schooling system, which has not provided the necessary skills for young people to enter the job market, and a lack of development of skills, particularly in technical fields. Those who are educated find themselves lacking the required skills sought by employers.
Studies also reveal that persistent youth unemployment has a negative impact on social development. Youth unemployment, in particular, long-term youth unemployment, can generate frustration and low self-esteem, which can lead to increased vulnerability among some young people to drugs, disease and crime.
Youth unemployment can also lead to the marginalisation and exclusion of young people. There is evidence that unemployment can expose the youth to a greater risk of lower future wages, repeated periods of unemployment, longer unemployment spells as adults and income poverty.
We therefore need to create jobs. We need to create decent jobs, for the youth and expand youth opportunities for further job creation. The government is committed to that goal. This matter cannot be politicised. It is a very serious matter. We need to create the necessary jobs.
Decent jobs for the youth mark an important step in completing the transition to adulthood, and this is often seen as a milestone towards independence and self-reliance. It also promotes social integration, intergenerational dialogue, citizenship and solidarity.
Therefore finding a job or employment, especially for young people living in poverty, is a means of attaining a better life and as such can have direct positive consequences for poverty alleviation. The challenges we often face, however, are poor or exploitive working conditions.
This is a fight that we cannot leave for another day; we must deal with it if we are to tackle both youth unemployment and informal and poor working conditions. I know there are those who are calling for concessions in terms of labour relations, but if they were to be on the farms where those young people are employed, I wonder what concessions they would be talking about.
On the issue of public programmes for youth employment, the Department of Publics Works has a number of programmes that seek to address the crisis not only of the youth, but also the issues of poverty and income relief.
Through programmes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, the department has been able to provide temporary work for the unemployed. They carry out socially useful activities through these programmes.
As you would remember, the EPWP was launched in 2004. It is in its second phase and is charging ahead with the mandate of promoting economic growth and creating sustainable development.
I am pleased to announce that phase one of this programme, the goal of which was to help alleviate unemployment by creating at least a million work opportunities. Please note, not a million jobs, because some people misinterpret this. This target was achieved in 2008, a year earlier than envisaged in the 2004 electoral mandate. You will also note that the EPWP programme aims for a target of at least 40% of the beneficiaries being young people.
The second phase of the programme was launched in April 2009, with a goal to create two million full-time equivalent jobs for poor and unemployed people in South Africa. This is in order to contribute to halving unemployment by 2014, through the delivery of public and community services.
The average duration of employment is assumed to be 100 days. This will be scaled up from 500 000 work opportunities in 2009 to 1,5 million in 2014.
Also of importance in our country, is the need to address concurrent jurisdictions, because this will create wider opportunities for job creation and development in all the spheres of government. Phase two of the EPWP has enabled all three spheres of government to contribute enormously to the creation of decent work opportunities, skills provision and the redistribution of wealth.
However, its impact on closing the gap created by adversity, poverty and rising unemployment has not been significant enough. The programme works because of full participation across government spheres and the nonstate sector.
Other opportunities will be realised through the creation of green jobs emanating from the department's Green Building Framework and being responsive to South Africa's newly unveiled White Paper on Climate Change.
Efforts to step up the greening of state buildings are under way as part of South Africa's mitigation strategies regarding the effects of global warming. Through these efforts, the department will realise the creation of green jobs outlined in the New Growth Path. This will be done through concerted collaboration, using the principles of the EPWP with a range of stakeholders such as organised business, the public entities of the department and local communities.
The total number of work opportunities for the youth over the period 2009 to 2012, was about 900 000. During 2007 to 2008, the department initiated the National Youth Service Programme with the goal of creating work and training opportunities for the unemployed youth, while addressing the shortage of artisan skills within the built environment; involving the youth in community service delivery, thereby instilling the spirit of patriotism in young South Africans; and ensuring that the youth develop skills, understanding and aspirations for working within the built environment.
This initiative provides young people with a stipend of R660 per month during the six-month training period, and R1 100 per month for six months during on-the-job training. Young people are trained mainly in a number of technical fields such as bricklaying, painting, plastering, tiling, carpentry and electrical work.
Further, the programme provides them with personal protective equipment and toolboxes. Although challenges concerning the programme have been raised, even here in Parliament, the programme is receiving our full attention in order to make it work and achieve the intended goals.
Over the period 2011-12, the department recruited 2 000 youth from this programme compared to the 802 which were recruited in period 2009-10. In addition, the provincial departments are also implementing the National Youth Service Programme based on the national Department of Public Works model. To date, about 4 000 youth were recruited collectively across all provinces.
In order to avoid duplication of services and wasting limited resources, the department has partnered with the National Youth Development Agency on the National Youth Service Programme.
In an endeavour to reduce poverty and halve unemployment by 2014, the department will accelerate the efforts of the National Youth Service Programme to ensure that government buildings and related infrastructure continue to be maintained in a manner that will also be beneficial to the youth through the facilities management programme of the department.
We are going to stop the practice of outsourcing wherever we are able to mobilise the skills from within, in order to create more jobs. The facilities management programme will also result in an increase in the department's contribution to gender mainstreaming in property management. This will be done through the increased employment of women in the property sector.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform also has programmes such as the National Rural Youth Service Corps, Narysec, which is aimed at skills development and job creation for the youth from rural areas. These are programmes to take advantage of.
Another departmental programme that targets the youth is the Vuk'uphile Contractor Development Programme. This labour-intensive programme aims to increase the use of contractors and supervisors.
The contractors and supervisors undergo two years of National Qualification Framework training at level 4, and are provided with contracts to execute as part of the practical component of the learnership.
The contracts vary from R500 000 to R3 million per project. Of the 110 contractors and supervisors receiving training, 70 are youth. Between now and March 2014, we intend to select about 390 more contractors and supervisors. Some of these programmes will need us to look at joint initiatives with other state entities such as the construction Seta.
I would like to encourage the young people to start thinking about co-operatives as alternative models for local businesses that will be responsive to community needs as well as stimulating local economic growth. The co-operative form of business should be an obvious choice.
Co-operatives have the potential to foster economic growth at the community and regional levels, building on the spirit of co-operation that is already prevalent in rural areas. Co-operatives offer a way for a group of individuals to pool their limited resources to achieve a critical mass. Co-operatives combine people, resources, and capital into larger, more viable and economically competitive units.
As a department regulating the built environment, we are noticing that our graduates are struggling to make it into the built environment, especially when it comes to them registering with the various councils. After so many years spent in school and time and resources used, one becomes an unemployed graduate.
Where is the fairness in that? Where is transformation? There are gatekeepers in these technical professions, and some people are calling for the deregulation of these professions and that they must do what they did in the past during apartheid. That is nonsense. A research study by one of the department's entities found that race was one of the major determinants of finding employment after graduation, with Africans significantly disadvantaged compared to coloureds.
Other studies concur with these findings and add that 60% of African graduates found employment within six months of graduation, which might indicate that race still has a significant impact on graduate employment prospects.
This begs the question as to why graduates find it difficult to access areas in which they are confident and capable of delivering better services to the country. We need to work together on this situation in order to transform the built environment.
The road ahead of us is long; there are no short cuts to doing things the right way, and there are nothing right in the things that are wrong. So, my fellow young people, I encourage you to take full advantage of the opportunities available and, when one of you happens to make a break in life, share with the others, help others and build each other.
I think the message from my side is clear. I also would like to challenge my peers to support and encourage the youth in their endeavours, because if we neglect them, we would have failed to produce future leaders.
As the slogan goes, working together, we can achieve so much more. I thank you. [Applause.]
Ms H ZILLE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Takes: 100 & 101
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
Ms H ZILLE (Premier of the Western Cape): Madam Chair, hon members of the NCOP, ladies and gentlemen, and most particularly the young people in the gallery, may I mention at the outset that I set aside the scheduled 90 minutes, from 09:00 this morning, for this debate, and I am afraid I have to stick to that because my other programme requirements make it a necessity.
I was here this morning and I was informed of the change of time as I walked into the Chamber on time for 09:00, and so were many other people.
During this Youth Month, we honour the leadership of the class of 1976, who paid a great price for South Africa's freedom. Grief, it has been said, is the price of love, and their memory will never be extinguished.
In 1976 I, myself, was a young person of 25 years of age, embarking on a career in journalism at the Rand Daily Mail, and I was acutely aware of the political challenges that confronted all young South Africans, whatever their background.
During that year I witnessed the Soweto uprising and its aftermath, countrywide, at first hand. Every one of us, black and white, was constrained by the brutality of apartheid, and black South Africans were constrained in a particularly oppressive manner. Today we have echoes of that struggle to achieve freedom.
Last month saw thousands of young people marching to protest against the economic shackles created by Cosatu's opposition to the youth wage subsidy scheme. Cosatu's stance, backed up by their violence, seeks to limit economic opportunities for young people, effectively keeping them in the bondage of unemployment. We know unemployment is highest among the age group of 15 years to 34 years, where the unemployment rate is over 50%. In fact, out of all the unemployed, 70% are young people.
Tragically, today we have a President who is prepared to sacrifice the future of hundreds of thousands of young people to get himself re-elected in Mangaung. [Interjections.] You see, our President needs Cosatu's votes in Mangaung...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Excuse me, hon member. Members, can we behave. May I make a request to you hon Zille that we be constructive.
In your speech - I am just pleading - is it possible for you to ensure that you stick to the topic of today, especially because we have all these young people up there, and I address them in your presence? Can we please then be very careful of our utterances, at the same time. Thank you.
Ms H ZILLE: Madam Chair, the young people are adults and I will speak within the Rules of Parliament. I will not say anything that is unparliamentary. I will speak to the theme and I will speak the truth.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Can you hold on.
Mr F ADAMS: Deputy Chair, I think the premier is wilfully misleading the House. Cosatu will not vote in Mangaung. She is wilfully misleading the House.
Ms H ZILLE: Cosatu has a crucial vote in Mangaung, ... [Interjections.]... and we know exactly...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Zille, I am still pleading with you. Can you now just contain everything as prescribed on the demand of today. Do me a favour, can you then continue with your speech and not revert back.
Ms H ZILLE: Thank you very much, Chair, we are speaking about the youth and unemployment, and we are saying that one of the key reasons that unemployment continues is that, although the President promised a youth wage subsidy in the state of the nation address; although there is R5 billion in the national Budget to implement the youth wage subsidy; and although the deadline to do that was 1 April this year, nothing has happened.
Nothing has happened because Cosatu is blocking it. That is because they take the decisions and because our President is scared of Cosatu. [Interjections.] That is a fact, and young people are not too young to hear those facts. They need to know them.
We must see the warning signs early...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Members of this House, please can we listen and then if there is anybody raising a hand and saying something, let them do it procedurally. At this juncture, I am giving that chance to the Chief Whip, the hon Ntwanambi.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Hon Chair, can the premier please take my question just to clarify a few things for the audience, more than for Members of Parliament.
Ms H ZILLE: I am not taking a question now, Madam Chair.
We must see the warning signs early. Our youth are crying out for fair opportunities, as they were in the years leading up to the 1976 uprising. The authorities are turning a deaf ear to them. They did so then and we dare not do so again.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Zille, can you just hold on. Hon Faber?
Mr W F FABER: Madam Chair, on a point of order: We respect all premiers when they deliver their speeches during a debate. I would just like to ask the ruling party to please also respect our premier,... [Interjections.] ... so that she can also have her say. Thank you. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Faber, I have made my announcement. Can you just also behave and sit down. From now on if anybody is disobedient, I will throw them out.
Ms H ZILLE: Contrary to some stereotypes, most young people lead responsible lives. Many are genuinely committed and impatient to put right the wrongs of our broken society. Furthermore, this digitally savvy generation is the most innovative ever.
Sadly, I also meet some young people who have been broken by this world. My government's job, in the Western Cape, is to give them the opportunity to mend. The Western Cape government's approach is preventative, as it is comprehensive. We tailor special measures to intervene early on in families and communities with deep-rooted problems.
The most fundamental need for a young person is personal identity, recognition and affirmation. Often we have a tendency to speak about the youth as if they were all the same. The patronising pretext is that we, the decision-makers, need to do something for the youth, rather than with them. I believe this has been the fundamental error of the national government in framing policies that affect young people.
As Premier of the Western Cape, I do not treat youth policy as an abstraction or a distraction. We drive youth policy everywhere in the government we lead. We don't jump to conclusions either, as the hon Ntwanambi is now doing, in our evidence-based policy-making.
For a long time before the DA was voted in to take over the provincial government, many decisions had been based on scant or no dialogue with or inputs from experts, or young people themselves. The wrong analysis leads to the wrong conclusion, and that then leads to the wrong intervention. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Zille, can you hold on for a minute. Hon Faber, is it a point of order?
Mr W F FABER: Madam Deputy Chair, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for a member to continue disobeying the Ruling you made earlier? The hon Chief Whip is continuing to do so. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Faber, can you sit down. Sit down. Hon Sibande, is it a point of order?
Mr M P SIBANDE: Yes, Madam Chair. I think he is out of order. There is a Rule that we must not disturb the person who is at the podium. He must sit down.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Okay, I have ruled. Continue. [Interjections.]
Ms H ZILLE: The wrong analysis leads to...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Sibande! [Laughter.]
Ms H ZILLE: The wrong analysis leads to the wrong conclusion and then leads to the wrong intervention. Every encounter with a young person is a different and diverse experience.
I am also impressed by how young people unify around broadly shared goals, hopes and dreams. Everyone wants a decent start in education and an opportunity to get ahead. This Parliament needs to help give people and young people – all young people – hope and the will to persevere.
Whenever a policy is proposed, I try to find the human interest behind the number and weigh the evidence. I quickly realised that there was an angle missing in the youth wage subsidy debate, and that is its multiplying effect. Many thousands of people would benefit from the over 100 000 permanent jobs that would be created.
How does this work? People are more than individuals. We belong to multiple types of families - extended families and communities of every colour, creed, language and sexual orientation. I doubt that there is anyone here today who started off in their ideal job.
Did you? I certainly did not. In fact, I got my first job through a labour broker called Kelly Girl, and you know what? At that time I felt fortunate to have a job at all. I wonder how many of us here held on to jobs, which Mr Vavi and Cosatu might denounce, that nonetheless gave us a crucial first opportunity to prove ourselves. [Interjections.]
Opportunity is what the youth wage subsidy is designed to achieve. [Interjections.] Opportunity is what the youth wage subsidy is designed to achieve – that crucial first job that you otherwise would not get, which enables you to prove yourself; to build a CV and get a good reference and then move on to the next job. That is the opportunity our young people need.
Sometimes the state simply cannot fill the middle layer of need. There are not social grants for everything. The eldest sibling may depend on the youth wage subsidy to pay towards a younger sibling's education, or to ensure that a grandparent has warm clothes in winter.
Let us not forget the bigger picture – the HIV/Aids epidemic left a generation of child-headed households that desperately needs that first opportunity in a job.
The Western Cape has responded by being the first to pioneer a model of the youth wage subsidy. Every youngster that I have spoken to, who has benefited from it, has mentioned what a wonderful opportunity it is. They have also spoken about its ripple effect.
This, of course, is quite apart from the extra demand for goods and services created when more people are in work and more money is in circulation. It is clear to all that the opponents of the youth wage subsidy have run out of excuses.
There is no empirical evidence that the youth wage subsidy will cost older workers their jobs and lead to casualisation. Nor is it true that people lose jobs the moment they are too old to fall within the confines of the youth subsidy. They are there with experience; they have used their opportunities; they have the skills; and they move up the economic ladder.
As a parent and educator, I realised a long time ago that schools are the most consistent structures in many children's lives. Government has an important and specific role to play in fixing our education system. The Western Cape government, and everywhere the DA is in government, acts upon the conviction that we live in a world in which education defines a person's chances.
I agree with President Jacob Zuma that every teacher should be in class teaching and every learner should be in class learning, for seven hours everyday.
In the Western Cape, matric examiners are being tested in 10 big enrolment subjects, in order to ensure their competence. The important thing is to be strict and enforce those sound policy proposals, rather than cower weak-kneed before a specific teacher's union - which I call the "strike and don't teach" union - that puts the comfort of its members above the interests of the children, and prefers mediocrity to excellence.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Zille, I will give you just a few minutes to conclude.
Ms H ZILLE: Well, hon Chairperson, my time has been severely constrained by interruptions and points of order. [Interjections.] So, how anyone...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Zille, I was still saying to you I am giving you a few minutes because I am trying to compensate you. So, conclude.
Ms H ZILLE: Thank you very much, Chair, but my speech was vey well-timed for 10 minutes and the interruptions have made it difficult. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Unfortunately, that is that.
Ms H ZILLE: How anyone can reasonably object to assessing what a teacher is required to know in order to mark a subject is frankly beyond me, yet this is exactly how the SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, holds other provinces to ransom.
That is why the education the children so desperately need is systematically being destroyed in so many ANC-run provinces, most particularly Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. They are being held to ransom by the SA Democratic Teachers Union – so-called.
This will not suffice in the DA–led Western Cape, and as provincial government we are implementing strategic interventions to promote the chances of young people to get jobs and live lives they value.
I am very pleased to be able to say that after the supplementary examinations were marked, the matric class of 2011 achieved an overall rate of an 84,7% pass rate, up from the 78,9% of the previous year.
In conclusion, let me simply say that the youth activism symbolised by the class of 1976 is rising again. Youth unemployment is indeed a ticking time bomb, and it is tragic that the government of South Africa bluntly refuses to implement any key solution to diffuse this time bomb. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms B P MABE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 101
Ms H ZILLE
Ms B P MABE: Hon Chair, these are ever-changing times. I pity a young white lady who was 25 years old in 1976. I was not yet born. She has just said that she was a journalist at that time and yes, she is my granny.
When young people, women, children and people with disabilities were being murdered, she did nothing, but enjoyed her privileges and salary. However, today she has the nerve to come here and dictate to us, a liberal movement,... [Interjections.]who should be the leader of our movement.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Mabe, may I punctuate: Hon Zille, please be careful of the language you use and what you are saying. We are not going to allow and accept any insulting language in the Chamber. Continue, hon Mabe.
Ms B P MABE: She has the nerve to come here to dictate to us who should be the leader of our movement. We won't allow that to happen.
Her wish will not come true. We will decide who is supposed to lead the ANC. We are in the majority and we will decide who is supposed to be the President of the ANC and the country.
A liberal cannot come and dictate to us as to who should be our leader. She must deal with her politics and forget about what is happening in the ANC.
I am disappointed, because we are trying to liberate her by doing away with labour brokers. Today she confirmed the reason why she is persistently and continually promoting labour broking. She confirmed that she got her first job through Kelly Girl agency. I pity young people who continually follow her because she owes her allegiance to Kelly Girl. [Interjections.]
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Chairperson, on a point of order: It is unparliamentary to call a person by his or her name? Madam is also hon Madam Premier. She is not a "she", a "her" or anything of that sort. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order! Can you sit down.
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: That's a point of order, Chair. Can you please rule.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Can you sit down. [Interjections.]
Ms B P MABE: Hon Chair, let me just reflect a bit on what happened previously again to condemn the hon Premier Zille who is trying to be a freedom fighter today, a person who is going to liberate the youth of today.
Section 3(2)(a) of Chapter 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of SA on citizenship states that –
(2) All citizens are –
(a)equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits of citizenship ...
Hon Premier, these are the rights and privileges of men, women and children whom you referred to as refugees. I am not sure if the youth of 1976 would embrace you if refer to South Africans, blacks in particular, as refugees. To continue with policies of apartheid during the new democratic dispensation is a shame.
Hon Chair, it is an honour and a privilege to participate in this Youth Day debate on the eve of marking the 36th anniversary of what is today officially known as Youth Day. Indeed, it is a day that changed the course of South Africa's history.
This is an occasion to pay tribute to all the gallant fighters and patriots and their organised formations on whose shoulders we stand. They made it possible for us to live the dream of freedom for which they themselves paid the ultimate price when others were enjoying themselves.
This is a time not only to remember and educate each other about the role and contribution of young people in the attainment of our democracy, but it is also a time to look forward.
The massacre of unarmed and defenceless school children and youth showed the whole world, particularly those who sponsored the apartheid system, how brutal and repressive the apartheid regime was. However, their death was not in vain as it accelerated the pace towards the demise of the regime.
While Bantu education was introduced in 1954, the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction is what led pupils to embark on a protest march, which was violently dispersed by the security police – hon Zille was probably there as a journalist - leading to the death of Hector Peterson and others.
We must recall that the Soweto uprising took place at a time when the ANC had adopted the four pillars around which our struggle for liberation was organised, namely the armed struggle; mass mobilisation; the underground; and international isolation.
In the aftermath of the riots, many people were arrested and detained without trial as the security forces were looking for the so-called instigators. This constant harassment led to a number of young people leaving the country to undergo military training outside the borders of South Africa, as they were intent on overthrowing the Botha and Malan regime by force.
Simultaneously, various solidarity movements across the world sprang into action and calls for sanctions or disinvestment in South Africa intensified. These calls put a lot of pressure on the South African regime.
During the 1980s, the four pillars complemented each other so well that they weakened the resolve of the South African apartheid regime to continue with business as usual. Thus they forced that regime towards the negotiating table, to talk about the transfer of power from the minority to the majority.
After 14 years of the 16 June 1976 event in Soweto, our country was on the verge of attaining political freedom. Conditions had been created for banned political organisations to be unbanned. Comrades in exile returned home and political prisoners were freed. In 1994, the first election of a democratic government took place.
Today, I stand here before you as a member of the ANC representing my province in the NCOP due to the sacrifices and contributions made by various people and organisations. It is therefore appropriate to salute the 1976 generation and rededicate ourselves to achieving the goals they sacrificed so much for.
The clarion call which was made at the real Congress of the People on 26 June 1955 was realised when they declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government could claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.
With this background in mind, together with other struggles that ensued during the 1980s – predominantly class boycotts that spilled over into consumer boycotts, and strikes by workers which led to our democratic government determining public holidays – June 16 was declared Youth Day. This was in recognition of the general contribution made by the youth in the struggle for liberation.
I thought I should take the time to sketch the background so that our young people today should understand what June 16 is all about.
Lest we forget, or before I get accused of assuming that the contribution of young people in the struggle for liberation started in 1976, I must indicate that it was the youth leagues of Lembede, Tambo and Mandela that infused the ANC with militancy in the 1940s already. That should also be viewed as part of the youth contribution to our struggle.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 1985 as the first International Youth Year. In 1995 member states had committed to adopting guidelines and policy frameworks that would propel them into national action to improve the situation of young people by increasing their access to opportunities for constructive participation in society.
The integrated programme for youth development is taking place in this context. That is why, as the ANC, we are supportive of the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA. That is why our government is preoccupied with interventions such as expanding no-fee schools, skills development, etc.
That is why our President, in his state of the nation address in 2011, indicated that a fund of R9 billion has been allocated to finance new job creation initiatives. The struggle today is against unemployment, poverty and inequality.
The President further indicated that students in further education and training colleges who qualify for financial aid will be exempted from paying fees. He also announced the conversion of loans into bursaries for qualifying final-year students.
All these initiatives are just some of the ANC-led government's efforts to increase their access to opportunities for constructive participation in society. It is now 36 years since 16 June 1976, and almost 20 years – the second decade – of our freedom.
As the ANC celebrates its centenary, it shall not forget the contribution of our youth. As the youth of today we should be seized with exploiting the democratic space afforded to us by the 1994 breakthrough in order to advance our common goal. Thank you. Amandla! [Power to the people!] [Applause.]
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 102
Ms B P MABE
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, guests in the gallery and the youth –that is my age – and hon Premier from the Western Cape, today, I am very honoured to speak in this debate, as I was a student in l976. To me it is a profound reminiscence, as I am standing here.
In the House today we have an hon member who was part of the Soweto Student's Representative Council, SSRC, in 1976. He was the third successor president of the SSRC after two of his predecessors passed on namely,Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo. May their souls rest in peace and rise in glory?
This hon member is a colleague and a friend and is from my province, Gauteng. Today I want to say we salute you braDan, as we commonly call you in Gauteng. [Applause.]
Let us not celebrate the people when they are dead but let us celebrate them while they are still alive. Today, it gives me great pleasure to quote someone that is alive and well with us in this august House, and that is hon Dan Montsitsi. I quote:
No matter what current differences may occur, the future lies with the youth.
[Interjections.] You were not born yet. Relax and listen.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Mabe, please.
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS: Indeed, the youth is our future and we need to embrace them, we need to open opportunities for them. We must give them opportunities to receive a decent, world-class education in the language of their choice, attend educational institutions of their choice and then, ultimately, they must have a job of their choice.
This can only be possible if we work together to create limitless opportunities for the youth, for a better South Africa.
We need to create an open opportunity society for all, where our youth can capitalise on these opportunities. This will allow them to follow their dreams. Each parent has a dream for their children to become the best that they can be.
One's path in life should not be determined by the circumstances of one's birth or material or demographic circumstances, but rather by one's efforts and talents.
In an open opportunity society for all, a child born in poverty should have the opportunity to enter a profession of his or her choice, when they have the talent to achieve their goals. All our youth should be given an opportunity to create and carve their own future.
Treasury estimates that the youth wage subsidy will benefit more than 400 000 unemployed youth. The DA has been calling for the implementation of the youth wage subsidy for 10 years.
In the state of the nation address of 2010, both the President and Finance Minister Gordhan stated their support for the youth wage subsidy. Since then, it has been stalled at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, by Cosatu.
Business, government and the Federation of Unions of South Africa, Fedusa, South Africa's largest union federation, have all declared their support for the youth wage subsidy. Cosatu is the only roadblock to the youth wage subsidy and its implementation.
The DA is fighting for jobs while Cosatu is fighting for unemployment. Make no mistake, Cosatu opposes this excellent proposal because they care more for the employed than for the unemployed masses of our country. The youth wage subsidy will have an almost immediate positive effect in reducing youth unemployment.
Government must put aside the selfish interests of Cosatu and place the interests of the unemployed above the interests of their alliance partners.
There are millions of unemployed youth of whom many are graduates and they find it almost impossible to secure employment. Unfortunately, you need to be employed to gain experience in the workplace.
There is no need to fear that anybody will lose their jobs. We need to have internships and capitalise on the experienced workforce. Experienced people must be mentors to the youth. We need to combine experienced people with inexperienced people to allow on-the-job training. Businesses value their experienced employees and they would not simply fire them to be replaced by inexperienced employees.
Skills development must take place in all sectors. Many companies contribute, as legislated for in the Skills Development Act, Act 9 of 1999, but they do not utilise the opportunity that the Act provides for claiming back their levies for skills development of the youth. The Skills Development Act, Act 97 of 1998, states it clearly, and I would like to quote:
In line with the overall government objectives set out above, the purposes of the Act worth highlighting are as follows.
To develop the skills of the South African workforce in order to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers.
To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and increase the return on investment.
To use the workplace as an active learning environment, to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience.
To improve employment prospects of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, and to redress those disadvantages through training and education.
Afrikaans:
Ten slotte, vir Suid-Afrika om toekomstige leiers te ontwikkel moet ons die jeug ondersteun en toerus met die nodige vaardighede, opvoeding en onderwys ten einde om ons land te bevorder.
Die regering moet besef dat ieder en elk van ons 'n verantwoordelikheid het om die jeugloonsubsidie te ondersteun en te implimenteer. Dit sal die jeugdiges bemagtig om vir hulself en hul naaste eindelose geleenthede te skep, ten einde die bevordering van 'n beter en blink Suid-Afrika. Siyabonga. Dankie. [Thank You.]
Ms V Hani
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Takes: 102 & 103
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS
Ms V HANI: Malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi[ Let women be praised] Chair, hon Minister, hon members, guests, especially the youth, this is your day. Youth Day and Youth Month in South Africa are very important for celebrating the student uprising.
One thing that our young people do not tolerate is pretentiousness. I keenly follow the developments around the youth in the Western Cape. I have seen a new struggle emerging in the Western Cape to liberate the youth from poverty. [Interjections.] Just wait, Madam Zille.
It is a struggle where young people are disillusioned with the promises made by the DA, inferior service delivery, continuing war on the poor and where young people do not get the recognition they demand and the youth are seen as voting fodder. [Applause.] [Interjections.] Yes, I will because I am from this province.
They are challenged to take a look at their future under a party that is still seen as serving the rich in the leafy areas and they are offered little hope to become the best they can.
The Western Cape is a province where the DA speaks of dreams, an open opportunity society and being fit for purpose, which means meritocracy and promoting a privileged few.
It is the province where the DA has promised good governance, but has been exposed for maladministration, improper DA cadre deployment with undue political influence on procurement and little regard for principles, resulting in fruitless ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Zille, I have heard you for the second time using the wrong language. This is the final warning.
Ms V HANI: I was saying, improper DA ...
Ms H ZILLE: Deputy Chairperson, on a point of order: There is nothing unparliamentary about the word "nonsense". It is used in parliaments around the world all the time, if the speaker is talking nonsense.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Zille, I am in charge right now and everybody is under scrutiny. You might do it somewhere else, but here, right now, it is not acceptable. [Applause.]
Ms V V HANI: I am saying that improper DA cadre deployment ...
Mr F ADAMS: Deputy Chairperson, on a point of order: Rule 37 (b) says that if a member is in contempt or is disregarding the authority or the Chair, the member's conduct is grossly disorderly. I would like you to rule because the Rule says that the presiding officer may ask the member to leave the Chamber. This member is grossly ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): I have already said to hon Zille that it was the last warning.
Ms V V HANI: ... improper DA cadre deployment with undue political influence in procurement and little regard for principles, resulting in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The Public Protector last week officially confirmed four findings of maladministration.
We are still digging to get to the bottom of this scandal with the awarding of a multimillion-rand communication contract to assist the DA in its quest to polish its image. Already state funds were abused to sponsor a radio show to promote the premier and her party under the guise of service delivery.
Cosmetic appearances are important to spin lies and for the smoke and mirrors of that party, as maladministration is now the indelible brand of the DA government in at least two provinces. It was also officially ...
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Deputy Chairperson, on a point of order: It is unparliamentary to say that somebody is "lying". The word "lying" is unparliamentary.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Continue.
Ms V V HANI: ... which was also officially found in the DA flagship Municipality of Midvaal.
In the Western Cape we have also seen all major youth projects killed off, the recognition of the youth disappeared from the Premier's Office and was substituted by a silly lottery for HIV testing and a few bursaries for girls not to fall pregnant.
In the Western Cape many of our youth are doomed to fear an early death in townships where gangsters, drug lords and street villains rule. The youth are threatened by the growing crime rate. The DA talks about doing something, but ends up speaking to the perpetrators, siding with the hardened criminals and not the victims.
This is the province where the DA leaves people to their own mercy as the DA's liberal values dictate that the devil takes the hindmost. [Interjections.]
Mr W F FABER: Really!
Ms E C VAN LINGEN: Deputy Chairperson, on a point of order: The hon speaker is busy misleading the House and it cannot be tolerated. If the member wants to quote DA policy, she must please read the policies before she speaks. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela):
Ms V V HANI: This is the province, the Western Cape, where the DA only wants to provide ghetto-style taps and open toilets to the people on vacant land with no roof over their heads, but they are met with rubber bullets and teargas if they speak out against these travesties.
It is the place where the young grow up with raw sewage in the streets, but the wealthy areas are upgraded. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon members, for the last time, give the speaker a chance or I will take drastic steps, irrespective of political affiliation.
Ms V V HANI: It is here where ordinary people are treated with jackboot-style apartheid kragdadigheid [vigour]. Farm dwellers get a raw deal. Just recently near Stellenbosch, a farm manager allegedly drove over a young man twice to murder him, and in Worcester another young man was allegedly a shot in the back of the head and killed by a farmer.
This is the province where schools in poor areas are under the siege of drugs and violence. They frequently do not get proper assistance, equipment or resources. They always claim that they are the best. More schools are closed than built by the government in the Western Cape which has many overcrowded schools.
When Madam Premier was here, she talked about the education system that is bad and destructive in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. [Interjections.] However, in this province, near Stellenbosch, in a town called Franschoek, which is not far from here, there is a school called Mooiwater Primary School.
At this school African children, specifically, are being discriminated against. They are not offered maths. Maths is only offered to the coloured children at the school. [Interjections.]
An HON MEMBER: That can't be.
Ms V HANI: Yes, it is. [Interjections.]
When the people of Grabouw complained about overcrowded schools, their isiXhosa children were labelled as refugees by the premier. [Interjections.] Those objecting were called xenophobic, thus creating a false outrage. This is an uncaring province. Ask us. This is an uncaring province, where many feel unwelcome and racism still lives on.
They are insulted by inferences of professional blacks. There are few places for the cultural, recreational or educational development of the vulnerable, especially the youth and women.
Here people struggle to get their chronic medication, and the health services are appalling. This is the province of contradictions and double standards...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Hani, can you hold on for a second? Hon Zille?
The PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE (Ms H Zille): Madam Chair, on a point of order: The hon Hani has just spoken about double standards. You required me to stick to the theme of the youth, and may I ask you what the hon ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: What is the point of order?
The PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE (Ms H Zille): What has the hon ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: What is your point of order?
The PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE (Ms H Zille): The hon Hani is not sticking to your previous ruling that we stick to youth issues. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: She's talking about the youth. Listening is a skill, so let's use it in this House. [Interjections.] Continue, Ma.
Ms V HANI: This is the province of contradictions and double standards, like the DA's cross-subsidy wage for the rich to become richer at taxpayers expense, and piggybacking on the ANC's initiatives for training and internship.
In the Eden municipality, the DA illegally fired a number of interns. How is that caring about the poor? It is the province where the DA rules, but it does not march to the Cape's Congress of South African Trade Union, Cosatu, offices.
Mr H B GROENEWALD: The DA is coming for you.
Ms V HANI: No, the leaders fly to Johannesburg in order to march in Gauteng's streets...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Groenewald, it's the last warning. I'll take you out! Continue, Ma.
[Interjections.]
Ms V HANI: The DA's claim of a triumphant march is as hollow as that of Eugene Terre'Blanche boasting of a runaway victory after invading and then being driven out of the then Bophuthatswana.
This is a province where the DA believes that development is supporting big businesses, cosmetically upgrading central business districts and spending millions of rands on walls, but not taking opportunities closer to where people live.
It is the place where inequality grows and where equity is not taken seriously. The provincial government does not reach gender targets. Black women were pushed out in favour of white male top managers. What message is that sending to the youth? [Interjections.] What are you teaching our youth, who are our future leaders?
Premier Zille is afraid to appoint women in her Cabinet. [Interjections.] She is surrounded by men. She hates quotas, and told the legislature in 1999 that certain women in the National Assembly – who are mostly black –
... take up space there, earn a salary, eat a big lunch, pack in some padkos and drive off without having made any contribution.
[Interjections.] Here the youth despair, as funding is cut and many NGOs and soup kitchens close down. The latest is having the poor work for a plate of food, instead of giving them sustenance to earn money for their families.
This DA government was challenged by President Zuma at this year's opening of Parliament to work at reducing the school drop-out rate in rural and farm areas. After half a year, the DA has not as yet produced that plan.
The Cape of Good Hope offers little hope to poor people, and needs change, starting with the DA. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr A MOTHUPI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 103
Ms V HANI
Mr A MOTHUPI: Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon members and fellow young people of South Africa, it is indeed a pleasure and an honour for me to be afforded this opportunity to participate in the youth debate under the theme, Working together to build limitless opportunities for the youth for a better South Africa.
As a country, we come from the dark history of apartheid and colonialism. Our present and past leaders fought for many years for the freedom we are enjoying today. We must never forget that this freedom came after many sacrifices, and that their blood was shed for it.
As a country, we must also remember that young people played a significant role in bringing about political freedom in our country. Their power, acting in concert in June 1976, should send a reminder to all South Africans that the ticking time bomb must be diffused before it explodes.
During this month of June, called Youth Month, we must write about and discuss, not the state of the nation, but the state of the youth. We need a serious discourse on sustainable solutions to address the growing rate of unemployment, poverty, inequality amongst the youth, lack of business opportunities and the lack of implementation of policies created for the development of our young people.
Since 1994, the ANC-led government has introduced progressive policies and laws in order to reverse the socioeconomic imbalances that were brought about by the previous regime. The ANC-led government has achieved much over the past 18 years of our democracy to reverse the inequalities that existed for more than 300 years.
In terms of education, for instance, we today have learner transport, the National School Nutrition Programme, no-fee schools and the abolition of corporal punishment.
However, the challenge remains that after completing their matric, the majority of our young people find themselves on the streets, vulnerable and disillusioned, primarily because they don't have money for further education and training at FET colleges or universities. They therefore end up on the streets committing crime, and so forth.
As a result, it is imperative today that we should reflect on the fact thatthe ANC has always viewed young people as the most important stratum in society and, as such, has sought to ensure that they are fully integrated into society as agents of change.
We in the ANC regard our youth as a critical component within the forces of the national democratic revolution in the thorough process of resolving the contradictions created by the system of colonialism and apartheid.
This means that young people have an objective interest in driving the national democratic revolution towards its logical conclusion. As active agents of change and transformation, they stand to benefit from the fundamental transformation of our society.
As young people played a significant role in bringing about the democratic breakthrough in South Africa, the ANC seeks to ensure that past imbalances created by the apartheid regime are redressed, and that young people are afforded opportunities to participate meaningfully in all sectors of society.
It is, therefore, important that we should work together, "trek saam", to build limitless opportunities for the youth of our country. We are one rainbow nation led by His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma. The reality is that Rome was not built in a day.
Setswana:
Se se botlhokwa ke gore rona re dire mmogo jaaka Maaforika Borwa go aga setšhaba sa borona. Ke seo se tla re tswelang mosola.
English:
Given the high levels of youth unemployment in the country, youth economic development should be anchored around the idea of youth co-operatives, so as to provide for the collective ownership and control of the economic resources in the country.
Unlike privately owned business enterprises, these youth co-operatives will have greater economic impact in terms of responding to the socioeconomic challenges facing the youth of South Africa.
We are encouraged by the unfolding changes in the mainstreaming of integrated youth development through the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA. This process of reorganisation will be the cornerstone of sustainable youth development.
With youth co-operatives currently being implemented in different parts of our country, we urge the private sector to also come forward and use the skills of these young people.
As we commemorate Youth Month, let us be reminded that more remains to be done. All sectors of society must be committed to the cause of youth economic development, to ensure that the struggle of the generation of 1976 was not in vain, but one through which we are all able to realise the true meaning of freedom and democracy.
The late ANC President OR Tambo, said in 1981 that:
The objective of our struggle in South Africa as set out in the Freedom Charter encompasses economic emancipation. It is inconceivable for liberation to have meaning without a return of the wealth of the country to the people as a whole.
In conclusion, while being mindful of the endeavours of the class of 1976, the youth of today should never forget the sacrifices that were made in order for us to be able to enjoy the freedom that we have today.
They can only do so by ensuring that they get the necessary skills and equip themselves with knowledge and education in order to uphold the principles and values of the Freedom Charter, so that we may never again experience the injustices, persecution and dominance of one race over the other. [Applause.]
The PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE (Ms H Zille): Hon Chair, as this debate was supposed to be scheduled for 9'o clock and last for 98 minutes, I'm afraid that my timetable is planned around the original scheduling, and I'm now going to have to excuse myself. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: You are allowed to leave.
Mr M C MAINE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 104
Mr A MOTHUPI
Mr M C MAINE: Hon Chair, may I request the hon member just to stay for 30 seconds? Without opening the succession debate of the ANC, hon Zille, the hon Mr Zuma is the President of the ANC, and as for who is going to lead the ANC in December, watch this space! [Interjections.]
The hon Premier of the Western Cape came here and told the House that young people took to the streets and marched to Cosatu House. When you look at who were marching, it was young black South Africans. She left the kleinbasies [young white bosses] and the kleinmiesies [young madam] at home ... [Interjections.] ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order!
Mr M C MAINE: ... and set black people against each other. [Interjections.] When the situation turned bad, she took the deputy kleinmiesies [young madam], Lindiwe Mazibuko, and ran away, and left our people to fight, unlike us in the ANC. We stay put with our people, despite the harassment the great-grandfathers or grandparents of the premier.
I do not think I must waste my time because the hon member has left. [Interjections.] Actually, I was not going to read my speech; I was going to dedicate my 10 minutes to her. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order!
Mr M C MAINE: The hon Groenewald is very innocent. [Laughter.] We appreciate the demonstration today, because the boss is here; otherwise they will be chased away. [Laughter.]
Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister Nxesi, ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Groenewald.
Mr M C MAINE: ... young people from the Western Cape, young people of South Africa, you are not refugees in South Africa.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order!
Mr M C MAINE: South Africa belongs to all who live in it. [Interjections.] The significance of June should forever remind us of the value of education for our youth, as the poor quality education provided under apartheid led to the Soweto uprisings that saw young people lose their lives.
Many years earlier, our Freedom Charter had outlined the ANC's plans for education and it reads as follows:
Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;
Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit; ...
Due to competing interests for development in our country, it is only through the 52nd Polokwane conference resolutions in 2007, that, as the ANC, we have been able to prioritise access to higher quality education, universal access and higher education.
Access to higher-quality and free education determines a range of outcomes for our youth related to the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
We believe that eradicating poverty amongst our youth begins with youth development. In particular, youth education can break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through increasing the chances of employment.
In support of youth development, plans are under way by our Department of Higher Education and Training to build universities in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga so that the youth will no longer be excluded from accessing higher education facilities, on the one hand.
Socioeconomic inequality, on the other hand, is more difficult to deal with because apartheid framed the economy in a way that ensured that, 18 years later, previously disadvantaged youth cannot afford good quality schooling.
Poverty has ensured the exclusion of our young people from accessing quality education and, consequently, from participating in the economy. Nevertheless, our propoor policies have enabled our education departments to increase no-fee schools, bursaries and loan opportunities for youth.
In addition, education improves employment prospects. However, we need to raise questions about the quality of education the youth can access, whether the youth eventually qualify for jobs that feed into economic development and whether our economy can take up the numbers of previously disadvantaged youth who flood the Arts Faculty academic programmes.
We also have to be cognisant of the fact that our economy may need a particular set of skills. Training programmes offered by our departments across the board assist in building a set of competencies amongst the youth, which raise their chances of having the requisite skills for the workplace. Our education departments have to look into the idea of linking education to the wider economy.
The one measure that has attracted most media attention is the youth wage subsidy. Now, the hon member has left; I wanted to educate her. It is important to recognise that no one scheme or model will solve the challenge of youth unemployment, as some political parties, in particular the DA, would like the nation to believe.
Firstly, what the subsidy seeks to do, in essence, is to reduce the financial costs or risk associated with not knowing the productivity of the person to be employed.
Secondly, the youth employment subsidy seeks to make the training of young workers more affordable to employers, particularly smaller employers.
Thirdly, the subsidy encourages more active job searching because youths believe that they are able to find work.
In summary, a youth employment subsidy lowers the relative cost of hiring a young person, while leaving the wage the employee receives unaffected, and therefore increases demand for young workers.
An additional benefit is that the work experience and training gained during the period of subsidised work will improve long-term employment prospects. Getting that first job is important. Young, unemployed people who have some work experience are over three times more likely to find a job than young people who have none.
There have been a number of concerns raised with regard to the proposed youth employment incentive. Discussions with social partners are aimed at mitigating these concerns. The rules, design and monitoring of a youth employment incentive need to ensure that it does not have negative unintended consequences, including potential displacement.
The ANC would like to see these issues addressed fully in discussions between social partners at Nedlac, but with urgency, as the challenge of creating jobs for young people cannot be indefinitely deferred.
For organised labour, the challenge is the principle, since the real dangers are that older workers who often earn the sole income in a household could be dislodged with fatal consequences to the entire household.
That is what the ANC equally wants to avoid. The essence of this argument is the experience of organised labour that employers will employ more young workers and receive the generous subsidy, whilst retrenching an equal or greater number of older workers, and thus creating no more jobs overall.
As new, young workers reach the age limit for the subsidy, they will be displaced and replaced by a new set of subsidised workers. These are genuine concerns and must be addressed.
Therefore, we are locked in discussions on finding a way forward as the solution to challenges. No amount of pressure from our detractors will sway us from a negotiated agreement, as their pressure is mere opportunism and political expediency. They seek to appropriate for themselves - which is what they always do - that which the ANC government has initiated.
All credit goes to the ANC-led government, no one else. If anything, our detractors are likely, through their actions, merely to delay the outcome of an agreement. We are fully conscious that the process is not a simple one; it is open to abuse and could have a negative impact.
This is precisely why we are engaged with all stakeholders in negotiating an understanding that deals with the design, regulations and implementation of the youth wage subsidy.
In support of faster employment creation, government has established a jobs fund administered by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, DBSA. It has allocated R1,8 billion to 34 projects to date, which will be matched by project sponsor contributions of about R1,7 billion. These projects are expected to generate about 102 000 new jobs, and over 50 000 placement and training opportunities that will also benefit the youth.
The National Youth Service programme, NYS, derived from our Polokwane resolutions, was implemented by the Department of Public Works for youth between the ages of 18 years and 35 years – my time is running out! The NYS is a year-long skills training and development intervention. It aims to provide unemployed youths with technical skills and life skills training.
Access to good quality education and practical work experience, including mentoring and opportunities for future employment, should not only be the business of government, it should also include all the stakeholders. I thank you. I'm well on time. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela)
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Takes: 104 & 105
Mr M C MAINE
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon members, I'm going to be having hon McKenzie as was indicated on the previous speakers' list after ... [Interjections.] I am still on the floor. Sit down. [Interjections.] I had to take his name off the list because he was delayed somewhere, but was decent enough to notify us that he was on his way. [Interjections.]
Mr D A WORTH: [Inaudible.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member, I will help you out of the Chamber. Thank you, Mr Feldman.
Mr D B FELDMAN: Hon Deputy Chairperson ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): You were also complaining. [Laughter.] Hon Feldman, you can continue, I was just reminding you that you were also one of those who were complaining when I mentioned hon Mckenzie. [Interjections.]
Mr D B FELDMAN: With due respect, Deputy Chairperson ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Feldman, continue and deliver your paper. [Interjections.] Okay, continue and deliver your paper, Feldman ... [Interjections.]
Mr D B FELDMAN: Hon Feldman!
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Feldman, deliver your paper.
Mr D V BLOEM: Please, forgive him, Mama, I am pleading with you, please forgive him. [Laughter.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Bloem, when I need an attorney I will actually ask for one. Continue hon Feldman. [Laughter.]
Mr D B FELDMAN: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members, hon Minister, ladies and gentlemen, Youth Day in South Africa today has lost its true meaning. To many of us June 16 is a reminder of a day and also a period of pain. This turning point in our history, never to be forgotten, was the beginning of the biggest struggle to free our nation.
The image of Hector Pieterson in the 1976 Soweto uprising shows the brutality of apartheid and it is until today an image that tells a unique story of hope and tears.
Deputy Chairperson, the struggle against apartheid and the use of Afrikaans as a draconian decree, was just one of the issues in the struggle for our freedom in this country.
Chairperson, today we are reminded of the youth, who challenged the odds, standing in the frontline to protect their values. They did what their parents could not do. This ended up in a loss of lives.
Chairperson, as we today celebrate Youth Day the focus must be placed on values and must not be misplaced. When we celebrate this day, we must remind generations to come about the youth who acted as leaders, activists and custodians of the truth and that they played a vital role in transforming this country.
The youth of today, equally, has this responsibility to guard against reverting to oppression, hunger and poverty in our communities. The proactive youth of yesterday sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Do we have the same youth today; the same commitment and visionary spirit among our youth?
Chairperson, this is questionable, if we look at the example of Julius Malema and the way the ANC youth via the NYDA administer their finances.
The youth have a responsibility to remind government that the employment crisis affects them directly and that picture of 1976 must remind government of the danger of the elite's agenda.
Deputy Chairperson, the mandate of the youth has not changed. The previous government abused the 1909 constitution to further their aims. Today, while we, as Cope, celebrate with the nation, we say Cope will protect the 1996 Constitution and will not allow this government to misrepresent the Constitution or abuse the Constitution to further undemocratic practices.
That is all, Deputy Chairperson, while we celebrate Youth Day. I thank you.
Mr P MCKENZIE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 105
Mr D B FELDMAN
Mr P C MCKENZIE: Deputy Chairperson, thank you for understanding my situation, and for the benefit of the member who has walked out let me say I have proof on my cell phone that I phoned. So thank you very much, Deputy Chairperson, I am very honoured to be here.
This is an important debate, because it is really a cry from the heart for help from us, the Western Cape. When the hon member Hani was speaking here - I am not going to forget this, because I will remind her of this when she gets to the other side – Premier Zille said to her, "I will get you in the House again". I am saying this to you, Chair, so that you know the type of intimidation that we live under, and what is happening here.
If you are a matriculant and you are black in the Western Cape, I promise you, there is no hope for survival for you. You will never get a job. That is the real fact of what is happening here. Why is it that all surveys indicate that black people feel unwelcome in the Cape?
Chair, if transformation really was what the DA government in the Western Cape wanted, then I ask you: Why is it that almost all the HODs that were black were fired? Social Welfare was fired, Education was fired and I can go down the list.
I promise you, there is no hope for any black person in the Western Cape. Unless you, as the government, the ANC-led government, do something about it, the people in the Western Cape are going to rise up against this situation. [Applause.]
This is why we plead with you and call on you. How can you think that someone of the stature of the Premier can say to a black South African – born in South Africa, living in South Africa, contributing to South Africa – that in the Western Cape that black person is a refugee? And it is the easiest thing for one to say something bad, but the next thing one apologises and claims that one did not say that.
The biggest insult to us blacks is exactly what the hon member Hani quoted, that blacks here just sit with their big blankets, eat the food and drive their C180 Mercedes-Benz – as if the taxpayers do not pay for the Mercedes-Benz that Helen Zille is driving around here.
As I said over there the other day, if you are white you are right in the Western Cape. So it is from our hearts that we are pleading with you please to help us.
Our young people and your people who are on the standing committee of correctional services, and all of that, will know what I am saying. Chair, do you know where our young people end up? Our young people end up in prisons.
If you can go to any township – Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Bonteheuwel, Heideveld and you will see this. They are so concerned with the wellbeing of the Western Cape, but in my constituency in Bonteheuwel, no less than 20 young people have been murdered in the past two or three months. And I have not seen even one reaction from this Western Cape government.
This is why I am saying that we are calling upon you, as a government in South Africa, to please come and help us out of this terrible plight in which we, as the people of the Western Cape, find us. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Mckenzie, your time is limited, but you can continue because you still have 22 minutes. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
Mr P C MCKENZIE: Chairperson, thank you. You know Chair, ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Seconds, 22 seconds. [Laughter.].
Mr P C MCKENZIE: You are just portraying how you feel in your heart for the people of the Western Cape, on the one hand. The premier, on the other hand, thought so little of this debate that she could not stay for an extra five minutes.
That should be an indication to the young people that under her leadership the Western Cape is doomed. [Applause.]
Mr A J NYAMBI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 106
Mr P C MCKENZIE
Mr A J Nyambi: Deputy Chair ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Bloem, I've given you a chance to speak.
Mr D V BLOEM: Chairperson, the member is snubbing you. You have given him 22 minutes extra, but he has snubbed you. [Laughter.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Bloem, it was a mistake and I corrected the 22 minutes and now you are harping on an old string. Continue, hon member.
Mr A J NYAMBI: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members and the youth in our gallery, when the premier of the Western Cape was speaking it reminded me of the words that were once spoken by the late president of the ANC, OR Tambo in 1981 while addressing the South African Communist Party, SACP, 60th Anniversary, and I quote:
For the revolutionary movement anniversaries cannot only celebrate the past. We must recall and acclaim our history, but more importantly, we must use the past to arm ourselves for the future to learn lessons and to strengthen our resolved and commitment.
I want to talk about three things that she touched upon. The first is the issue of making, a football game of the South African Democratic Teachers, Sadtu. The legacy of apartheid left this country with underqualified teachers. They were delivered by Bantustan education.
I am a product of the teaching of committed teachers from the far-flung rural areas. They are committed to teach more than seven hours a day. Now she wants to come here and change Sadtu. I hope teachers are following this if they think the DA is the party for them. How can you undermine a democratic movement and say it stands for a strike-and-don't-teach union. That is pathetic.
The second thing she that she said that we must correct was said by Tambo. At the Rand Daily Mail In 1976 she had colleagues:to mention a few Gabu Tugwana, Willy Bokala and Anton Harbor. Section 6 of the Terrorism Act was always used to impose solitary confinement. While she was addressing us I missed hearing her tell us what her role was then. Why was she never in detention and how was it that she survived without being detained?
Even Donald Woods who was also working for the Rand Daily Mail skipped the country after there was an attempted assassination. Why was the hon member not harassed then?
The thing of stealing the concept of the youth wage subsidy and making it a DA issue is a fallacy. Also, the decision about Mangaung will come, and it will come from the ANC.
When the ANC adopted its Ready to Govern policy document it subscribed to a number of policy guidelines for a democratic South Africa. At that point the ANC was about to seize the power of the state from the then undemocratic apartheid government, which was a government against the people.
This document set out the ANC policy guidelines, including the ANC policy on youth. The objectives and values of the ANC youth policy as articulated in this document are that -
The ANC believes that society has a responsibility to develop and nurture its youth to allow them to reach their full potential in order to make a meaningful contribution as individuals and as members of society. Their resourcefulness, energy and enthusiasm must be harnessed to allow them to play their meaningful role in our country.
In as much as the ANC recognises the rights to be attributed to the youth it also places obligations on them. In this regard the ANC policy goes further, and I quote:
The youth policy will recognises the obligations of South African youth to make an active contribution to the development of society in particular; a patriotic obligation to work for reconciliation and to promote a common South African identity; and a democratic obligation to participate actively in the political, social and economic life of the country to combat discrimination, racism and to promote democratic values.
We are debating here today to remember the hundreds of young people who were conscious of their obligation to society. They lay down their lives because of that consciousness. The youth displayed their patriotism, not only during the 1976 Soweto uprising, but throughout the fight against apartheid.
The youth of today should pay tribute to the sacrifices made by this 1976 generation. They should do so by ensuring that they utilise this hard-earned freedom to liberate themselves and the South African black person from the trenches of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
To borrow from the words of Isitwalandwe, the former President Nelson Mandela said during the second celebration of this day in the democratic era in 1995, and I quote:
You were in the forefront of the liberation struggle. Today you must be in the forefront of reconstruction and development.
Today's theme is: Working together to build limitless opportunities for the youth for a better South Africa. As indicated by former President Nelson Mandela, when he advocated for the spirit of masakhane [working together], he indicated that we can only succeed as a nation if we build one another up and build our country together. Equally, this theme recalls that spirit of masakhane. Let us unite and build one another in order to achieve what we committed ourselves to as the ANC in creating opportunities for the youth who are the future of South Africa.
Government has initiated a number of initiatives that seek to address the socioeconomic challenges faced by the youth. Let the House allow me to take this moment just to mention a few of the many challenges that the youth are facing in the communities that we live in.
These challenges are the result of the triple challenges that the ANC seeks to defeat. The socioeconomic challenges that face our communities and youth are firstly, the shortage or lack of skills.
The flipside of this is that where the youth does posses skills in the form of educational qualifications, the challenge is their inability to enter the labour market due to the demand for the workplace experience. The end result of this challenge is the unemployment of both skilled and unskilled youth.
Other social challenges that face the youth are the dislocation of family life due to HIV and Aids, which results in child-headed families. Another factor is the problem of substance abuse by parents and the youth themselves, and the devastating effects it has on families and our society in general.
This is coupled with the infrastructure drive announced by the President in the state of the nation address this year. These initiatives have the ability to create employment for many of the skilled youth coming out of further education and training, FET, colleges with artisan qualifications, but with no employment experience.
The Department of Social Development is doing well in dealing with averting many of the social ills that the youth goes through. The government's Anti-alcohol and Substance Abuse Programme has been spearheaded by this sector.
The Minister of Social Development, in her address to the community of Khayelitsha, indicated that at the Second Biannual Antisubstance Abuse Summit in March this year different sectors of society engaged in extensive and fruitful discussion in a bid to tackle the problem of alcohol and substance abuse. She further indicated that deliberations focused on policy and legislation, supply reduction, demand reduction, harm reduction and the role of civil society.
The National Skills Accord is another vehicle driven by the Department of Economic Development that will assist in creating these opportunities that seek to create a better South Africa and a better tomorrow for the youth.
The intention is to mobilise the private sector, organised labour, communities and government in a strong partnership to expand skills in the country as a platform for creating five million new jobs by 2020.
We urge the youth of today to display the heroism and patriotism displayed by the youth of 1976 when they waged war on tyranny and oppression to bring about their demise. The youth of today should be willing to be the building blocks of the envisioned, united, non-racial, nonsexist and democratic society.
In conclusion, I wish to quote the words of Oliver Tambo at the International Conference on Children, Repression and the Law in Apartheid South Africa, on 24 September 1987, in Harare, here he said, and I quote:
We cannot be true liberators unless the liberation we will achieve guarantees all children the rights to life, health, happiness and free development, respecting the individuality, inclinations and capacities of each child. Our liberation would be untrue to itself if it did not, among its first tasks, attend to the welfare of the millions of children whose lives have been stunted and turned into a terrible misery by the violence of the apartheid system.
I thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS (Mr T W Nxesi)
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Friday, 8 June 2012 Take: 107
MR A J NYAMBI
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Hon Deputy Chairperson and members, when I delivered my speech, I had to represent the executive and tell you what we were doing in order to deal with the crisis. I expected the premier to do the same, as a government leader in another sphere.
I didn't expect what I heard. I hope the media will be kind enough to write about the issues raised by Comrades Hani and McKenzie on the living experiences in the Western Cape.
It is very interesting that when there are protests in the other parts of the country, they are called service delivery protests because of the failure of the ANC government. However, when there are protests in the Western Cape, the same media listens to what the Western Cape government says and portrays them as being politically instigated. They didn't know that that is what it is like to govern. One must expect things like that.
Youth employment affects us all and dealing with the matter should not cause chaos and result in the youth fighting amongst themselves. The discussions about the youth subsidy, if the premier is not aware, are held at the highest level at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac.
These discussions are held with all the social partners and we deal with all those discomforts from both sides - from the side of business and from the side of the labour movement. That is the history of South Africa – we dialogue on any issue. A matter is not merely put on the table, and we just agree.
Government is in a dialogue with the different social partners. Therefore to interfere with a process that seeks to find long-term solutions to the youth crisis, is political grandstanding. It may make one popular, but it delays and clouds the process. And that is what is happening.
We cannot allow a situation where a political party assembles large numbers of young people to march on another group of young people, sending different signals. In a volatile situation like this where workers are concerned, when somebody else mobilises one youth group against another youth group, what do you expect?
I ask the hon members of the DA, who are here, to send this message to the premier. Don't open the old wounds of the so-called black-on-black violence. [Interjections.]
What I am trying to say is that causing confusion that results in young people fighting amongst themselves and hurting each other is not helpful. It is unfortunate that the instigator of the march did not get hurt, as she was protected and disappeared very quickly when the going got tough ... [Interjections.]
This was after hiring those young people and promising them money to come and march, because you can abuse a hungry stomach. Please let us all be responsible. We will not allow a province to run ahead in terms of thinking by doing the wrong things.
The premier must understand that to create a problem takes a matter of seconds, but finding a solution for a crisis takes time. So her continuous attacks, marches and the unnecessary pressure she puts on people create further problems.
Please, hon members of the DA, come to the party and assist in finding solutions. Please do not remind us of the white apartheid tactics and open those wounds caused when our people were used by the Third Force. They called it black-on-black violence when it was, in fact, caused by someone else.
I expect a prominent leader, more so a government leader, to show maximum restraint and not to fuel the fires on such a critical issue. We expect leadership, not cheap politicking, from a person of that stature.
Many issues remain a challenge in South Africa, including the most sensitive issue of the land and the issue of the wealth distribution which impacts on both the haves and the have-nots. As we deal with these issues, we expect leadership, and again, not cheap politicking from leaders of all political parties.
Please do not lead us down the road of confrontation again. Don't abuse the hand of reconciliation that was extended by the black people, who were brutalised by the apartheid system. Do not bring back the "madam" and the "baasskap" [supremacy] mentality.
Millions of cadres of all the liberation movements today, not just the ANC – the cadres and their siblings – remain unemployed and without even housing.
Those who benefited from apartheid are now very comfortable, but we committed ourselves to the road of reconciliation and the reconstruction of our country. We expect reciprocity. We expect people who benefited to be reciprocal in terms of dealing with this relationship.
Please, walk with us on the road of dealing constructively with the challenges facing the country. Do not open those old wounds. This is not a single event to deal with reconstruction; it is going to be a process.
The political transition in this country is going to take very long, because we are talking about decades of misgovernment of the black people.
The largest concentration of the majority of the white people – it's well known in this country in terms of the settlement patterns – are in the Western Cape and Gauteng. These settlement patterns have manifested themselves in everything, be it in education or whatever, because these people had the advantage.
To reverse the trends in the matric results is not going to happen overnight. Even when the ANC governed here in the Western Cape, the results were always high. It's not about the DA. [Interjections.] It is because of the apartheid settlement patterns where most of the whites with better education are in the Western Cape and Gauteng.
It will always be the Western Cape followed by Gauteng. It's not about the DA's performance; it's about the apartheid design. Do not open old wounds. Let's build the new South Africa. [Applause.]
It's a pity that the member of the DA who was here, Madam Abrahams, acted like a leader. She acted as if she were the premier. She didn't act like a rabble-rouser. It's a pity we didn't get that from the leadership, but I beg all of you, don't open old wounds. The reconstruction and political transition of this country is very sensitive.
Watch as and when we discuss the land question and the Green Paper as led by Minister Nkwiti. You will feel as if we are still in the apartheid times, and the black people are hungry for the land. We, as the ANC government, have decided to be constructive. Please reciprocate. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The Council adjourned at 11:22.
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