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YCLSA: Statement by Gugu Ndima, Young Communist League spokesperson, on the commemoration of Youth Day (16/06/2010)

16th June 2010

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The Young Communist league of South Africa (ufasimba) commemorates June 16 1976, where thousands of young people took to the streets in fight against the Oppressive system of Apartheid. June 16 in the History of South Africa marks a day of radical change of our political landscape.
Injustices of today's economics
34 years after the Soweto uprising, young people are still confronted with a number of social -ills which still characterize the lives of the majority. Statistics SA continues to reveal damning reports on the rapid increase of unemployment. 70% of the unemployed population is people between the ages of 15 and 35. This is a ticking time bomb.
The YCLSA recently held a "Jobs for youth" Summit, which specifically interrogated the issue of unemployment. It consisted of various Youth Formations representing various constituencies of young people. The Summit was evidence that despite different political/social convictions of Youth Formations, economic disparities touch the lives of young people from all walks of life.

Fighting towards a decent job for every Youth
Our theme in commemorating June 16 this year is "A decent Job for every youth" this is informed by the growing impatience of young people that feel marginalized due to poverty and unemployment. Their frustration manifests themselves through service delivery protests and crime.

In Line with the YCLSA's theme, a Charter will be launched on the 19th of June in our commemoration rally to give citation to the resolutions of the Jobs for Youth Summit. This Charter is an embodiment of all the solutions, which were tabled in the Summit in order to find a way forward for the South African economy to address the crisis of unemployment. This Charter is not a short-term intervention but a long-term collective commitment from all Youth Formations, which were represented at the Summit to shape South African economics as the Youth of 1976 shaped South African Politics.

Private sector exploitation still rife
The private sector needs to play a more vigorous role in Job creation; they have been bailed out by government after the recession, but there is no corresponding willingness on their side to save Jobs. Unemployment and inequalities need to be fought with the very same radicalism and militancy like the youth of 1976, in order to see radical transformation within our economy. The Private Sector continues to get away with exploitation as this fight is solely directed to government. This is the very same private sector that responsible for the Job exodus that has seen more the 1 million jobs lost by South Africans.
Corruption
Corruption is a social cancer, which hampers with service delivery and overall development of our communities. It is day light robbery of what rightfully belongs to our people. The YCL affirms its stance on fighting corruption and exposing those that loot government for their self-enrichment.
Some of the solutions embodied in the Jobs for Youth Charter are:

- Support for Youth Co-operatives
- Support for Entrepreneurship
- The eradication of the Tenderpreneurship and empowering of young, deserving entrepreneurs
- Instilling of patriotism and discipline through mechanisms such as the National Youth Service
- Adoption of Youth in Labour market
- The scrapping of Labour brokers

Socialism in our life time-Building a caring society

The current system of Capitalism promotes consumerism, crass materialism and selfishness. This creates a culture of greed and opportunism. People find role models in criminals and very obscure characters. A caring society can only be built on the values and principles of humanity, respect, discipline and unity. In simple terms UBUNTU. We need to re-instill such values amongst the youth but equally we need to acknowledge that this not be attained in such a highly unequal society.

FIFA World cup

The FIFA World cup will forever be a memorable event for South Africa. Through the event we have seen a united nation speaking in one voice and in solidarity, supporting their team. It has proven international skeptics wrong about the ability of Africa to deliver to the world.

We however acknowledge that people that have benefited immensely is FIFA and the elite corporations that have made fortunes in sales and marketing.. the monetary value of the Benefits for FIFA is just above 25 Billion rands. We condemn the fact that the workers that are on strike are being denied of what is rightfully theirs, a decent wage for a job well done. Workers should never be deprived of their right to participate in strikes to the benefit of an elite few. The Employers are never reprimanded for impromptu actions such as underpaying workers.

The National Team -Bafana Bafana
We wish Bafana Bafana all the best in tomorrow's game. It is a game that will be played on a historical day. They should do it for our fallen heroes like Cde. Solomon Mahlangu, Nkosi Johnson, more especially Hector Peterson.

As the Youth of today we should rally on and commit to building a non-sexist, non-racial democratic society

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