Programme Director;
The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Senzo Mchunu;
The MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dlomo;
Speaker for eThekwini council Speaker, Logie Naidoo;
Acting CEO of NYDA Khathu Ramukumba;
Chairperson of the advisory Board of Future Leaders, Victor Sibeko;
Programme Director, Zanele Mbokazi;
Members of the advisory Board and Executive Committee of Future Leaders;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for inviting me to this seminal occasion to mark the 10th Anniversary of Future Leaders.

It is my understanding that Future Leaders markets itself as an organisation that moulds and grooms the young people into responsible citizens capable of rising into positions of leadership.

Young people constitute the most energetic and creative section of our society and have the potential to play a meaningful role in the reconstruction and development of our country.

As society we have a duty to develop and empower young people so that they are well-prepared to assume roles that may shape our future.

In this way, the role that Future Leaders plays in youth development not only contributes to his noble objective but also gives effect to the words of former President of the ANC Oliver Reginald Tambo. "A country, a movement, a people that does not value its youth does not deserve its future.”

The existence of your organisation is therefore commendable and holds sway in changing the popular refrain that young people are generally apathetic.

Your work and activism also demonstrates that young South Africans appreciate the day-to-day realities that afflict their communities and are willingly working to change these conditions for the better.

Marking 10 years of such work is at once good reason and time for celebration, reflection and analysis of this impact. This will prove imperative for evaluating the extent to which your programmes find resonance among young people.

Programme Director;

It is vital that young people organise themselves in order to share ideas and create formations that enable them to secure their participation in the socio-economic planning for their own future.

Acknowledging the immense challenges facing South Africa`s youth today, the government therefore stands ready to work with all youth formations by providing technical assistance, resources, training, education and entrepreneurships development programmes that uplift young people.

Our preoccupation with youth development today therefore entails the need to harness young people's ingenuity, youthful energy, courage, impatience and appetite for progressive change.

Government recognises young people as dynamic agents of change who are capable of finding diverse and creative solutions to problems.

As such we seek to improve the capacity of young people to become change agents by developing their latent talents and harnessing their competitiveness to engage in an increasingly globalised world.

Programme Director;

We acknowledge that young people are largely excluded from mainstream economic activity and that some are further handicapped by historical inequalities in income, gender, sexual orientation, employment, education and poor health.

In this regard, education remains government's apex priority of all youth development initiatives.

We have also implemented a raft of other measures to support the youth through, among others, programmes to:

• create decent employment opportunities and inclusive economic growth;
• build a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path;
• create vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities with food security for all, and;
• build sustainable human settlements and improve quality of household lives.

Ladies and gentlemen;

I would like to encourage Future Leaders to continue the good work you have been doing to assist young people who are trapped in hopelessness and by so doing, providing them with the opportunity to extricate themselves from poverty and social exclusion.

I am also heartened and encouraged that your approach seeks to cultivate a culture of active citizenship amongst young people in order for them to secure their own future.

Yours is indeed a crucial programme in both imprinting and handing down the correct set of beliefs and values so that young people may learn to stand on their own feet.

In this regard, I think it is in order to call upon all South Africans, including corporate citizens, to make a contribution to this noble cause.

Finally, I would like to say to the youth of South Africa today, that they should take to heart the words of the young poet Rafael who said:

'We want today
To be men of tomorrow
We do not want tomorrow
To be where we are today'

With these few words I wish to again congratulate you on reaching this milestone and that this achievement will spur you to continue with the good work you are doing for many decades to come to become leaders of the future.

I thank you.