Chairperson and distinguished delegates; I wish to express the gratitude of
the Inkatha Freedom Party and the IFP Youth Brigade in particular for this
opportunity you have granted to share and engage on a critical area of our
country’s discourse through the National Development Plan.
 
Chairperson, before I delve into the business of the day, allow me to
express a concern which I believe is a concern of many. South Africa has
been down this road of grand plans and ideas before. Since 1994 great plans
have been mooted, but their implementation has never seen the light of day.

The Growth, Employment and Redistribution plan, or GEAR as it was known,
stands out as a progressive plan that disappeared like dew in the morning
sun. The same fate befell the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative,
ASGISA. In a similar fashion, the Youth Wage Subsidy also walked the plank.
 
These monumental plans for our nation’s development and progress faltered at
the instance and resistance of the unions, COSATU in particular. The
National Development Plan finds itself facing the same resistance and
potentially the same fate as GEAR, ASGISA and the Youth Wage Subsidy.
 
At every turn, South Africa has found itself having to buckle under the
pressures and whims of COSATU at the collective expense of the poor,
suffering and vulnerable. When COSATU sneezes, we all catch the cold.
 
In this context, Chairperson, chief amongst the threats confronting the NDP
and all that it could deliver for South Africa’s youth is the selfish and
inward looking posture of COSATU. The critical area of clarity at this point
in time, as we strive to roll out the NDP, is to determine who the “Friends
of the NDP” are. We must know who is who in the zoo, so that with those sane
South Africans we may put shoulder to the wheel and see to it that the NDP
is implemented.
 
The IFP is a “Friend of the NDP”. We support it as a necessary wish-list of
the Government. It is admirable and the IFP supports its implementation. We
support the overarching intent of the NDP, namely that it seeks to eliminate
poverty and reduce inequality in South Africa by 2030.
For the next 16 years, South Africa has a roadmap. The vision is clear. The
NDP has the potential to be the peg on which South Africans of all
demographics can hang their hopes, dreams and aspirations.
 
All that remains is political will on the part of the present day government
to do that which needs to be. The NDP must become a living plan and find
expression in the day-to-day operations of South Africa.

Chairperson, 2030 is today. It is not some distant destination in the
future. Therefore, political will must become political action. And today is
the opportune moment to do things differently and not buckle under the
pressures of COSATU and other NDP antagonists.

If anything, the pressure we ought to buckle under is that of the desperate
socio-economic conditions of our people who each day are struggling to get
by. The pressure of the poor, suffering, vulnerable and unemployed must
motivate us to action. In this, we must rise above the petty divides of
ideology and foreign “isms”. Now is the time for us to embrace the
responsibility of serving, and the determination to contribute meaningfully.

The IFP therefore commends this type of conference, for it provides an
opportunity for South Africa to interrogate the NDP and inform its
progressive direction. We need to be a “nation-in-discussion” on key issues
of substance, not on cheap sensational populism which does not enhance the
prospects of alleviating the plight of the poor, suffering and vulnerable.

The lack of information being made available to our people through the media
in particular is a major threat to the success of the NDP. The sensational
content of some of the media output further breeds ignorance on the part of
our people because they are fed only that which sells and not that which
develops and improves material conditions.
 
The theme of this session speaks to the youth sector of South Africa. There
are 3 key areas I would like to deal with flowing out of this topic, namely
the “youth bulge”, transformation, and threats and assets.

The term “youth bulge” refers to a demographic reality in which a large
percentage of the national population are children and young adults. This is
the case in South Africa, as it is in many developing countries. However, in
the South African context, the “youth bulge” comprises largely of young
people who are economically inactive and unemployed.

Rural and poverty-stricken youth are trailing behind in terms of education
and access to information. Previously disadvantaged communities find
themselves presently disadvantaged, having to compete with modernity from a
position of catch-up. 

This reality is best captured by Ashraf Kariem and Sithembile Mbete,
researchers in the National Planning Commission Secretariat, who point out
that “black learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are being marginalised
from accessing the opportunities that could drastically change their future
prospects. Young people, and poor black youths, in particular, bear the
brunt of South Africa’s structurally flawed economy.”

This reality was, unfortunately, predictable. Speaking on 18 December 1985,
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi said, “Black people have suffered because there
is such an educational backlog in black education. We do not have qualified
people in many important fields such as commerce, economics, agriculture,
conservation etc. It is quite clear therefore that we need our people
trained in these fields.”

Today, unemployment stands officially at 25,7% and unofficially at 38,5%.
Youth unemployment, however, is staggering at an estimated average of 70%.
2.8 million South Africans between the ages of 18 and 24 are unemployed and
not enrolled in any institution of learning. Unemployment among black youth
is 65%, up from 58% in 2008.
 
Underpinning this dilemma is a poor education system, wrongly focussed on a
quantitative pass rate rather than a qualitative pass rate. Then there is
ever-increasing drug and alcohol abuse, which has been made fashionable
through South Africa’s bloated entertainment industry and the “short-term
fun” marketing of a consumption economy. Thirdly, sluggish economic growth
has an impact. It is now below 2% and hardly on par with international
standards. 

The importance of economic growth cannot be overemphasised, particularly in
the creation of jobs. During the years of high economic growth between 2002
and 2008, unemployment for those aged between 25 and 34 reduced from 34% to
26%.
 
With each passing day the ever-increasing reality is that unemployment
entrenches itself as a permanent feature in the lives of young South
Africans. This desperation has by and large channelled young South Africans
towards undesirable means to make a living for themselves and to improve
their sustainable livelihoods and their socio-economic conditions.

Unemployment has turned our youth to crime and lawless behaviour. The
desperation is simmering towards boiling point: an unprecedented revolution
in demand of a better life. Unemployment is a breeding ground for
instability. Desperately unemployed youth are dangerous. Kariem and Mbete
maintain, and correctly so, that, “A country that offers so little hope to
its youth cannot count on a prosperous, safe and stable future.”
 
This may sound alarmist, but it exists as painful truth and a reality we
must confront.  The NDP calls the youth “the single greatest risk to social
stability”. This is not without precedent. The youth of 1976 revolted
against a system that fundamentally stood in the way of their dreams, hopes
and aspirations. The political dynamics are obviously very different between
1976 and 2014, but the desperation and frustration is the same.
 
The NDP therefore is a tool which must be utilised to transform and channel
a potentially dangerous energy towards a working South Africa.

We must ask ourselves, “Why is it that on an ordinary Wednesday, when a
service delivery protest breaks out, young people are at the forefront?”
Young people are there because they are not working. On a work day, the work
of the youth is to protest. Surely this should be an indicator, and
certainly a warning, that if things do not change for the better the
desperation of our people may translate into a catastrophe which will
reverse the gains of the past twenty years.

We have seen protests result in tremendous destruction to property and other
infrastructure. We must, and do, condemn this behaviour in the strongest
possible terms. But that is not enough. We also ought to take up the
responsibility of redirecting the energy of our people towards the
sustainable building of our country.
 
The major threat here is best described by the adage that “Idle hands are
the devil’s playground”. The noble objectives of the NDP to create jobs and
thus neutralise the threat inherent in our “youth bulge” must be embraced
and implemented.
 
The NDP is our only plan, and it is our only hope. It is no longer a
situation of what must be done; it is now a matter of “When?” And, “By
whom?” It is now a simple matter of implementation. The greatest threat at
this point in time would be inaction.
 
We must create a conducive and enabling environment for businesses to
operate. The inflexibility and stubbornly rigid labour laws of our country
must be overhauled. According to the World Economic Forum South Africa
currently ranks number 143 out of 144 in terms of the rigidity of its labour
laws. We are ranked 113th in labour efficiency, 140th for lack of
flexibility in wage negotiations and 144th, that is last, for tensions in
labour relations. Surely, this grinds against the grain of potential for
business confidence and investment.
 
Our Further Education and Training Colleges, our FETs, must be upgraded to
become premium institutions of choice and not last minute institutions of
circumstance. The capacity, skills, knowledge and expertise of FET College
lecturers must be developed and improved. The threat of downtrodden FET
Colleges is that they will produce poorly skilled graduates who will not
make a meaningful or effective contribution to development and the economy;
thus further keeping the youth in the perpetual cycle of poverty and
idleness.
 
We must develop new industries and new investment opportunities for South
Africa on the basis of our strengths and capabilities; and once having done
that we must ensure that we develop and produce the skills and expertise
which respond to the needs of the job market.

The major shortcoming for South Africa is its insistence on becoming a jack
of all trades. Because of this, we run the risk on a globally competitive
level of becoming a master of none.

Our education system, particularly the curriculum aspect, stands at this
point as a hindrance to progress and competitiveness. How do we reconcile
the 30% minimum pass rate with our international involvement in BRICS, IBSA
and the numerous international agreements to which we are signatories? Does
our education system render us globally competitive? Are we readily capable
of exchanging and transferring to the world the skills it needs? We cannot
afford to have an education system below international standards and norms.

For us to ease our unemployment burdens we must be geared towards opening
opportunities of growth and development for young South Africans on the
global stage, and we must be globally competitive to do that. In a modern
world which demands basic maths and science to be a norm, South Africa lags
behind.
 
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation makes a noteworthy observation
in that, “We have the additional challenge of young South Africans who have
gone through a public system education that is struggling to equip them
sufficiently.”
 
The NDP relies heavily on the production of skills. If this cannot be done,
the NDP runs the risk of becoming a utopian pipedream, incapable of
implementation. In 2030, 16 years from now, we must not look back and say
the NDP was “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing.”
 
The youth of South Africa are ready and prepared to work. If we invest in
the development of the youth we will be investing in the future, and
importantly we will be investing in the NDP. The NDP needs human capital to
advance and the youth demographic is the best-suited pool from which to
source those we need for development.  

An investment in the youth and getting the NDP right will eliminate the
threat of instability and integrate the energy of the youth into the
processes of development. This will ensure the longevity and sustainability
of the NDP. We must begin to allay the anxieties of the youth by attending
to their needs. The youth must be catapulted into active socio-economic
participation.

If we get this part of the NDP right, the threat posed by the “youth
bulge” will disappear. In its place South Africa’s greatest asset will
emerge: a largely young population that is hard at work, industrious,
innovative and productive. This alone will drive economic growth.
 
I would like to conclude with the words of IFP President, Prince Mangosuthu
Buthelezi. In 2012 he said, “For the sake of our country, may the NDP
prevail.”

I thank you.