Address by Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs, Deputy Minister of Social Development, at the Hip Hop Roundtable, Mannah Guest House, Kempton Park

Programme Director Ms Temsy Kala
Deputy Director General Mrs Vuyelwa Nhlapo
Chief Operations Officer Mr Zane Dangor
Government officials from national and provincial departments
Members of the Central Drug Authority
Representative from the National Youth Commission Mr Enrico
Van Rooyen
Representatives from ESP Afrika Mr Rashid Lombard and Billy Domingo
Representative from ARTH Mr Paul Davids
Representatives of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Representatives from the Hip Hop Fraternity, Rushay Booysen and colleagues
Special guests
Ladies and gentlemen
All protocol observed

In 1984 two movies came out that started a trend that would capture the world's imagination. 'Beat Street' and 'Breakin' were the two movies that brought what was the Unites States (US) culture of break dancing and hip hop from the streets of Los Angeles and New York to the rest of the world. The movies reflected a conflict between perceived legitimate art forms versus credible street roots. And herein lies our interests and our gathering here today. Traditional anti-drug abuse programmes have had limited appeal to the youth. They may speak to the youth, but not necessarily in their language.

As our former President Nelson Mandela said, when you speak to a person in a language he understands, you speak to his head, when you speak to a person in his language, you speak to his heart. The aim of this project is to educate and raise awareness of the negative effects of drug and alcohol abuse among the youth by speaking to them in their own language, through using hip-hop activities and philosophies.

Drug and alcohol abuse remain one of the more serious social challenges in South Africa. Drug abuse is the new threat to the development of our children. Our schools have become battlegrounds and are environments where drug trafficking is the order of the day. There is a direct connection between high levels of inter-personal violence and other forms of crime, road accidents, youth depression and suicide and drug abuse. This project aims to educate and involve the youth themselves in thinking about the solutions and values necessary to reverse drug abuse.

It is my contention that a concerted, highly visible, protracted and integrated campaign has to be initiated to divert our children who may be at risk. The structures of the Central Drug Authority, such as Provincial Drug Forums and Local Drug Action committees should both facilitate and are strengthened by such a campaign. This campaign should be seen as an intensification of the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan, our national strategy to combat and prevent substance abuse, focusing specifically on prevention and early intervention programmes.

We are gathered here today to consider how the Ke Moja Campaign can be extended to include the use of hip hop culture as a transformative tool and ways in which hip hop competitions can effectively be utilised to galvanise the interest of youth and act as an incentive to capture youth, the media and popular interest at the local, provincial and national level in the bid to combat the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse that threatens the physical, social and economic well being of our young people and families.

We have a fairly good understanding of the drug problem and are aware of the fact that drug lords target children, who are often vulnerable, inquisitive and receptive to influences. Compounding the increase in substance abuse is the sad reality that some segments of society perceive drug-taking to be cool, normal and acceptable. Thus our approach holds that we have to lead young people through a process of self, and community discovery which allows them to think and feel for themselves. We will help young people to identify their own aspirations and define a practical path towards realising these.

Besides drug awareness and education we should also capacitate our children by teaching them life skills on how to cope in a very competitive and challenging environment. In addition we should make sport (including dance) and Arts and Culture programmes available to occupy the leisure time of our youth and make them relate positively to themselves. Our children should be capacitated to live their lives without using any substances.

Over the past 30 years hip-hop has grown to become the most popular music genre in the world today amongst the 14 to 24 age brackets. Like all genres there are various expressions of hip-hop but the most enduring elements are break dancing, mccing (rapping), dj-ing, graffiti and knowledge of self (positive philosophy). These elements of hip-hop can be used to reach South Africa's youth as it appeals to their sense of writing creativity, radical expressiveness, artistic talent, dance, debate, energy and fun.

Hip-Hop has evolved into a global culture transcending geographical, gender, social and racial boundaries. It is a unique combination of athleticism, entertainment and youth leadership, which combine gymnastics, dance, fitness and aerobics disciplines. It is performed by both genders and enjoys vast mass appeal. Hip hop continues to grow as an organising and educational tool. Over the past 25 years hip-hop has provided a means for both individual expression and community activism in South Africa's townships and lower-income communities.

Thus we envision a project which delves into both individual psychological as well as collective social themes. We do not believe that young people are 'the problem' but that a deep sense of alienation and marginalisation for some, coupled with growing individualistic, selfish and irresponsible consumer culture is at the heart of the problem. All individuals are responsible for this culture and as such, young people must see themselves primarily as people and not as incomplete adults who are usually blamed for social disintegration they did not create and bear the brunt of. The project itself will include an educational component to be followed by the dance workshop.

The project outcomes can be summarised as follows:

* to extend the Ke Moja Campaign to promote sustainable anti-drug, pro-community values through hip-hop related workshops amongst youth throughout the country.
* to promote the Five Elements of Hip-Hop, in particular Knowledge of Self as a means to promote creativity and positive self-image amongst participating youth
* to provide an incentive by creating platforms for participating youth to expose their talents at local, provincial and national levels
* to provide an opportunity for winners to meet and share the stage with national and international hip-hop artists
* to elevate the Ke Moja Campaign to penetrate the National Consciousness of South African society, including children, youth and parents through a sustainable, effective media and communications campaign.

In deciding the kind of hip-hop it is necessary to distinguish between those that have a vision of developing South African hip-hop culture with a positive pro-social behaviour message and that which may not be connected with our vision. Hip-Hop is not violence, misogyny and narcotic substances. This summit provides us with the opportunity to share our expertise and experience to develop a coherent Plan of Action that we can present to other stakeholders.

The Plan of Action should encapsulate specific timeframes as well as identify possible partners and sponsors. It is also important to mobilise Provincial Drug Forums and Local Drug Action Committees effectively in such a campaign. Another important aspect is to decide how to integrate the work of 'Ke Moja' with other initiatives of civil society and whether it needs further development of a stronger message and expansion of its theme to include the relationship between drugs, crime, health and well-being. In doing so we should keep in mind possible partnerships with the private sector in areas earmarked for Corporate Social Responsibility.

I believe Ke Moja should be extended horizontally and vertically, to accommodate the diversity of programmes existing now and those that may exist in the future. To elevate the campaign to penetrate the collective consciousness of our society and truly become a national awareness campaign a communications plan which includes marketing of the programme and events, as well as a consideration of the inclusion of anti-drug messages in existing radio and television programmes should be explored.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce some of the stakeholders from the hip-hop and media fraternity present here today. ESP Afrika has the capacity and experience to organise and co-ordinate a national campaign of this nature. In addition they have the contacts with sponsors and the media that could make them a viable and resourceful partner. The other stakeholder is ARTH which has engaged in a project called Rock Challenge with a number of schools, where it invited schools at risk to come up with any form of dance that demonstrated the themes of HIV/AIDS, well-being, etc.

Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, nearly 10 years ago the United Nations General Assembly adopted a political declaration on the global drug problem that said the following in its initial statement:

"Drugs destroy lives and communities, undermine sustainable human development and generate crime. Drugs affect all sectors of society in all countries in particular; drug abuse affects the freedom and development of young people, the world's most valuable asset."

The Action Plan for the "Ke Moja Hip Hop Anti-Drug Campaign" that we aim to produce in this roundtable can help to ensure that we fully develop and utilise our most valuable assets i.e. our children and young people, so that they can grow up to become tomorrow's leaders. I am confident that we can rally a variety of influential and resourceful partners in the private and public sector to join us in this endeavour.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Social Development
22 October 2007