Programme Director
Deputy Mayor of eThekwini Cllr Fawzia;
Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa;
Dr Sbu Ndebele, former Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal and founder of the African Renaissance
Delegates and Honoured Guests;
All Media houses present
Distinguished guests

Good Morning

I bring warm wishes to you from more than 11, 1 million people who reside in this province. We are all excited that you have converged in this venue to discuss possible solutions to challenges facing the continent of Africa.

We meet few weeks after this province hosted the World Economic Forum on Africa – hosting it on behalf of South Africa and the continent.

Importantly, we have just hosted Tourism Indaba with the President of the Republic His Excellency J.G Zuma announcing that Durban will host this global tourism marketing platform over the next five years.

Our message as the KZN government is that Tourism Indaba, the World Economic Forum on Africa, the African Renaissance Conference and Festival should be used as instruments to unite brothers and sisters in the continent and the Diaspora.

We are meeting at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, named after the first African Recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.  For us, the people of KwaZulu-Natal Province, the ICC will always represent a hope for a better future.  On the 9th July 2002, the Organization of African Union (OAU) metamorphosed into the African Union (AU). 

This event, held here, brought together 53 member states who collectively agreed to work towards addressing challenges such as unemployment, poverty and equality. The leaders committed themselves to promote unity and solidarity among African states.

Today, as the world strides forward, African leaders are intensifying efforts aimed at ensuring good governance in Africa.  Towards the end of last year KwaZulu-Natal hosted African Ombudsmen Summit. This gathering Ombudsmen and Public Protectors to discuss strategies that will ensure that all organs of states are used as tools to create a better life for all.

In addition, few months ago we hosted more than 15 ministers during the African Internet Governance Forum to discuss the rollout of Information Communication and Technology infrastructure throughout the continent.  We have also hosted the Annual General Meeting of the Communications Regulators Association of Southern Africa.

As the provincial government we believe that ICT is of one the critical tools required to drive socio-economic development in Africa.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of telecommunication facilities in rural areas considering the fact that as a result of the legacy of apartheid, many rural communities still don't have access to broadcasting and telecommunication services.

Throughout government's interaction with communities, especially in rural areas through Izimbizos, we always receive dozens of complaints from the community about the lack of access to telecommunication services and poor network coverage.
What does this mean?

It simple means that we are running a risk of opening up a huge gap between information haves and have not. Access to telecommunication and broadcasting services is not only for the personal development but it is a tool for socio-economic development.

The new modes of economic production are increasingly dependent on knowledge and information technology. Knowledge and informationalism has become central to globalization and to development.

Programme Director, our view as government is that the upliftment of the continent and African people in general lies in their solidarity and in the numbers that they constitute. Stronger lines of communication must be maintained with Africans in the Diaspora as we continue to be inspired by our common history and heritage
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Whilst celebrating 50 years of the formation of the AU during Africa Day, African leaders made a bold statement at that time that that the next 50 will be dedicated towards fighting diseases and ensuring access to basic services such as electricity, water and sanitation for our people.

They expressed their firm commitment to invest more in education because the natural resources produced in Africa remain untapped because the continent lacks the technical skills required to add value to the primary products we produce and resulting in the export at low prices only to be imported back to Africa at unaffordable prices.

Ladies and Gentlemen, at this stage I want to salute the founder of the African Renaissance Conference and Festival, the former Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal Sbu Ndebele.  We want to acknowledge his sterling work over the years.

As the provincial government we have always supported the African Renaissance Conference and Festival because it is about reawakening the spirit of brotherhood and strengthening the solidarity amongst African people and to remind us that our fate is bound together.

It is an opportunity to recharge and define our next steps in the fight for the dignity of the African irrespective of which part of the globe they may be. It is an opportunity to remind us of the struggle that lies ahead of us and the challenges that we have to overcome before we can attain full equality for all.

It is an opportunity to look at the strengths that we must utilize to advance ourselves and the weaknesses that we must correct to advance the African child. It is important to remind one another that our struggle is not over.

Despite the political freedom that we have attained, including the right to vote and participate in all institution of governance in the land the African people as a group still suffer extreme poverty and don’t have access to economic opportunities.

This is so despite the African continent remaining amongst the richest country in natural resources such as oil and precious minerals: gold, diamond, platinum, copper, iron ore etc. Most of the resources remain untapped or are exploited by richer nations in the east and west.
Honoured Guests, a few years ago we had the privilege to honour and host Rev Jesse Jackson who was at the side of Dr Martin Luther King during his last moments. He recounted how this realization that the struggle for civil rights and equality for the African Americans was inextricably bound to our own struggle against colonization, oppression and in particular apartheid.

He reminisced about the days they spent together with President Oliver Tambo and the late Johnny Mfanafuthi Makhathini as they crisscrossed the USA and the different countries in the world to isolate apartheid South Africa internationally.

As we meet today, we want to state unequivocally that we remain indebted to many governments throughout the continent for the support over the years.  The commitment of African leaders to the total decolonization of Africa was such a deeply held conviction that was demonstrated by the insistence of the leaders of the Organization of African Unity that as long as one country in the continent is not free, Africa cannot be said to be totally free.

They committed resources to the cause of liberating South Africa and never wavered despite the serious losses they suffered and the sacrifices they were forced to pay to defend many freedom fighters –but never abandoned them.

Programme Director, I have been asked to reflect on the KZN Youth International Scholarship Programme and Entrepreneurship. The importance of youth acquiring experience in the various areas of their training cannot be overemphasized.

As the provincial government we have a package of programmes and projects which are designed to uplift the economic well-being of young people. In order to create more youth entrepreneurs in the province we are exploring more interventions as government such as a dedicated fund for the promotion of youth enterprise development. The new revised Youth Economic Empowerment Strategy proposes that the youth economic empowerment fund should have the following four broad functions:

Ø  Seed Capital
Ø  Collateral support
Ø  Business Development services such as constant coaching, business plan, regulatory compliance and business etiquette among others.
Ø  Bursary for Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship development
Ø  Fund Innovation exchange programmes

This fund should ensure continuous support of start-up firms to minimize the liability of newness. This fund should be strengthened by private financial sector involvement as indicated above.

It must be noted that the availability of funding is generally not a binding constraint for Youth, however, what hampers youth business development is largely lack of entrepreneurial skills as such access to funding should be combined with entrepreneurship skills development.

As government we have realised that most new entrepreneurs do not qualify for bank loans as they do not have credit history and collateral.  Start-up loans of up to R1 million or expansion loans of up to R2 million should be available for youth business enterprises with robust, bankable business plans.

Through this initiative, every new entrepreneur getting entrepreneurship loans should have to be mentored by a qualified business mentor for a minimum period of 2 years, this ensures sustainability of new businesses during their critical start-up phase.

It is important to note that in Africa 200 million youth aged 15-24 years are not employed. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 3 in 5 of the total unemployed are youth (ILO 2006) and on average 72% of the youth population live with less than $2 a day.

As a way to escape poverty, many youth look for better opportunities by migrating to urban from rural areas – others migrate to other countries which is unavoidable.

As the provincial government we understand that for governments to respond effectively to this migratory pattern, this has to be on the basis that we have sound plans that are based on accurate data. We have been working with Stats SA to conduct community satisfaction surveys across the province.

What came our strongly is the whole issue of youth unemployment and skills development. We have stated in various platforms that our vision as the provincial government is for all young people to grow up safe and healthy.

We want them to be resilient and have access to socio-economic opportunities. However, KZN Government cannot achieve this vision alone. That is why in October last year we launched an International Scholarship Exchange Programme in partnership with the diplomatic corps.

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial government has bilateral relations with a number of countries and this has assisted us to be integrated with economies of the world. KZN is currently home to 27 consulate offices with representatives from the following countries:

Ø  15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and United Kingdom
Ø  4 SADC member: Angola, Lesotho, Mauritius and Mozambique
Ø  4 Asian states: India, China, Korea and Pakistan; and
Ø  United States of America, Canada and Chile

Ladies and Gentlemen, at this stage we want to express our appreciation to you for supporting the KZN Youth International Scholarship and Exchange Programme. This is the porogramme that will benefit students across the corners of the province
Approximately 36% of the provinces population are aged between 15-34 years.   It is critical that the talent and potential of our youth is fully developed and harnessed so that we can guarantee the continuous socio economic development of KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa.
With those words, I would like to welcome you to the 19th African Renaissance Festival and Conference.
Thank you