Issued by: North West Communication Service
AN ADDRESS BY COMRADE POPO MOLEFE THE NORTH WEST CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AT THE OPENING OF THE YOUTH LEAGUE CONGRESS, RUSTENBURG 03/08/96
Chairperson, comrades and esteemed delegates,
Profound greetings and comradely good wishes from the Provincial Executive Committee. I also would like to assure you of the support of the leadership in the national executive committee and the Secretary General's office; everyone has expressed the hope that this Congress is going to accelerate the realisation of the strategic goals of the national democratic revolution.
Allow me at the outset, Comrade Chairperson, to congratulate the Youth League for a successful Youth Day Commemoration Sservice at Vryburg on the 16th June. The commitment with which it was organised invoked interest and admiration from across the broad spectrum of our society.
It emphasised the significance of the adage "young people of today are the leaders of tomorrow" and its corollary "our future belongs to the children". Perhaps, in the context of our young democracy, it is more apt to declare that it is not only the future that belongs to our young people, it is also the present that belongs to them.
Because since the 1970's, younger people began to assume the leadership role in the national struggle for liberation when the veterans were in jail, exile or banished, until the strategic objective of political self-determination was attained in 1994. For that the whole nation shall be eternally grateful.
Secondly, the population demographics of our country indicate that, in stark contrast to our recent past, more than 50% of our society consists of people who are aged between the years of 16 and 34, which only serves to prove that our population is increasingly becoming younger.
It can also be observed that more and more younger people are beginning to get involved in decision-making at the highest level within the structures of government, business, civic bodies, trade unions and in politics where matters of national importance are discussed.
Accordingly, it is not so much the result of conscious design than by sheer force of demographics that the ANC is an organisation that begins to reflect this phenomenon with its membership corps.
Consequently, it is not idle to acknowledge that no decision or policy, whether taken or formulated at national or other level, decisions or policies are designed to form a solid foundation upon which the future can be built. Thus what we do today, must mirror the future and shed light on the years ahead.
OUR PROBLEMS RUN DEEP
In shaping the future that we would like to see, we must be able to identify both the strengths and the weaknesses that characterise our society, and meet the inherent challenges as a united force.
We have inherited a society that is deeply divided, both socially and economically. Without doubt many amongst our youth sector are unemployed, have little or no means to further their education, many still come from shack-dweller settlements without electricity, water, sanitation and opportunities for self-advancement.
Also without doubt, these conditions are a fertile ground for detractors to sow division among our people. Many have emerged who, for no other reason than to assert their power and influence, are already blaming the legacy of apartheid on the mass democratic movement, especially the ruling African National Congress. These we told-you-sos are focusing their attention on the youth to demoralise them and sow the seeds for anarchy, apathy and lawlessness with the primary aim of reversing the democratic gains that we have so painstakingly consolidated.
SETTING THE AGENDA
These forces, reckless as to the consequences of their actions, have no alternative to offer the masses of our people except underdevelopment and backwardness.
When we fought against minority domination of apartheid, we promised our people a better life under democracy in the full knowledge that a new political dispensation on its own will not, overnight, translate into jobs, houses and social infrastructure.
We took political office in the full knowledge that the depths of our socio-economic problems are so serious that they will not go away merely by tinkering with the political structures of government, nor will our citizens have a life of fulfillment as a result of quick-fix solutions to problems that were deliberately created over many decades.
The ANC is today mobilising the country, especially the historically marganalised masses, around a common perspective, which is to confront the issues of socio-economic underdevelopment as a united and dynamic force. In discharging its historical mandate, the AN continues to draw strength from its mainly youthful membership, who set the agenda, the pace and the terms of development. And we are certain, no matter who says what, the ANC Youth League will always champion the cause of the oppressed, in tandem with other structures of the democratic movement.
YOUTH ACCELERATING DELIVERY
Nothing demonstrates the core evils of apartheid than the extent to which it has undermined the human resources base of the entire country by denying the majority of children, for many decades, access to basic needs. Many of our people cannot move beyond a mere theoretical understanding of the issues of transformation, to engage the ravages of apartheid in a purposeful and decisive manner. However, just as much as our people were united in a common objective to rid the country of apartheid, so much our youth, through united action, take the initiative to bring about a better kind of life that is free from want or disease.
To this end they must continue to join the structures of the movement in their large numbers and participate in the key programmes of development and empowerment.
As part of the offensive to ensure that matters of youth development remain a priority on the national agenda, the Youth Charter that was adopted on the eve of the Youth Day this year enjoins the government, political parties and civil society to develop policies, legislations, mechanisms and practice that will affirm the youth, thus ensuring that the future of the country is built on a solid foundation.
To spearhead the campaign for youth development, the National Youth Commission, which consists of all chairpersons of the provincial youth commissions, is in a strategic position to liaise with government departments at the national level, to participate in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring. At the provincial level, the Executive Council has fully embraced the need for regular interaction with the Commission so that executive decisions impact positively on the youth of the North West.
Also, it is now a matter of law and practice that the Commission forms part of the policy-making process in government departments at provincial level.
In this role, the Commission is entrusted with the important task of accelerating delivery of social services such as the provision of more and better schools, recreational and sporting facilities, libraries and better opportunities for self-development.
Furthermore, the Commission has been instrumental in developing a legislative framework for the establishment of a Trust Fund for Youth Development to be headed by a Board of Trustees. The aim of the fund will be to solicit financial assistance from both the public and private sectors for the advancement of the development needs of the youth and the protection of their interests.
SETTING THE AGENDA
As government, we have seriously taken on board the challenge of creating a fast-growing economy that is capable of yielding enough jobs for all the unemployed of our country and thus begin a process of wealth distribution in favour of the poor. Yet none of our intentions to build the economy will materialise unless we rapidly put in place a simultaneous programme of human resources development, so that our youth are able to participate in the economy in a meaningful way.
The Trust Fund will have to grow sufficiently to enable the development of extra measures designed to arm the youth with the relevant skills and expertise that will enable them to put the province and the country on a sustainable economic growth path, to create jobs and to meet basic needs. In this context, there should be no substitute for vocational or career guidance in which entrepreneurial skills and technological expertise are priorities.
CHALLENGES
The democratic movement seeks to build a kind of democracy that is not merely defined in terms of a general election every five years. We are striving to involve ordinary people in implementing socio-economic transformation. This will enable us to confront the related challenges of meeting their needs such as health, education and other social services, increasing their participation in democratic institutions of civil society and implementing reconstruction and development.
In this effort, we need to work with organisations and institutions that, like ourselves, draw their membership among the motive forces of such transformation, namely the unemployed, the workers, women's groups, youth formations, the disabled and rural masses. The Youth League needs to spread its tentacles and consolidate its power base among young people of all shades and languages and channel; their energies towards national priority areas of ensuring stability, deepening democracy and accelerating transformation.
At the local level, we have to mobilise our constituencies to strengthen community structures, including local government and RDP Councils, where delivery constitutes not a source of conflict, but becomes part of a common perspective around which grassroots organisations are united. To this end, we must ensure that these councils are democratically elected, and initiate, implement and monitor projects in conditions of transparency and accountability.
In confronting the ugly spectre of joblessness amongst the youth, the branches need to confront this matter head-on, yet with cool heads. As part of integrated strategies to accelerate social delivery, ways and means have to be developed for the integration of unemployed youth in the government's Public Works Programme at community level. In this regard both the communities and young people will benefit from these temporary jobs which are in fact permanent solutions to our problems of lack of public amenities.
Finally, Chairperson, in building the organisation and strengthening both Leagues, we need to take on board the need for continued political education. Without a clear understanding of the real issues that confront our nation, and a thorough knowledge of possible solutions, we will be vulnerable to influences from elements who have not yet come to terms with the permanence of the democratic dispensation.
In order to defend the democratic gains of our movement, we will have to be vigilant, but not necessarily paranoid, and consolidate our hegemony as the ruling party.
Detractors will always be in abundance. Soothsayers will always give their unsolicited predictions about splits in the organisation, and many of those who think they have solutions to our problems as a political party, will also give their advice liberally and constantly. Already some of these elements, perhaps for the lack of anything better to say, pontificate about divisions in the organisation. Yet we need not be overly concerned, lest we fall into the trap that is obviously being sprung for some of us.
It is in this spirit that I wish you the most dynamic and productive deliberations.
Thank you