Issued by: Office of the Deputy President
ADDRESS BY: DR E G PAHAD DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
AT THE WORLD CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUTH. LISBON, PORTUGAL 8-12 AUGUST 1998
Chairperson, Your Excellencies Ladies and gentlemen
The South African Delegation expresses its gratitude to our hosts as well as the officials and the technical staff who have ensured conditions conducive to a genuine exchange of views on a critical issue of our time.
From the first recorded works of art in Ancient-Egypt and later in rock paintings found in caves in different parts of our continent, young people are represented engaging in different forms of activities. For centuries enduring and great cultural products have had as their focus the young. Poets, artists composers, musicians and actors have expressed in an array of beautiful, vivid images and representations the energy, drive, creativity, commitment and optimism of the youth. They have also depicted the pain, suffering and premature death of too many young people.
Yet today at the dawn of the new millennium we are still discussing and debating the issues relating to youth and development. This stark reality should surely impose on our generation the awesome responsibility to do something positive and tangible for and with the youth of the world. To paraphrase a slogan of the disability movement in South Africa. "Nothing about the Youth, without the Youth".
Apartheid had been declared by the United Nations a crime against humanity. This montrous crime devastated and disfigured the lives of millions upon million of the youth, not only in South Africa, but also in the region as a whole. We the people and the government of South Africa have to contend with this horrific and grotesque legacy. It is a monumental task from which we shall not shirk.
Following the first democratic elections in 1994 the South African Government, working together with other political formations and broad civil society endeavoured to develop a comprehensive youth policy. These consultations determined that instead of a Youth Ministry we should set up an independent National Youth Commission but politically accountable to the Deputy-President and Parliament.
The Youth Commission has produced a National Youth Policy that is all embracing and rich in content. But even more significant is that this policy document was developed and endorsed by a wide range of youth organisations representing a variety of political, ideological and class positions. This policy document is based on the assumption that youth policies have to be comprehensive and integrative. That youth issues and youth concerns have to be integrated into the national and provincial budgets, and should inform the work and approaches of every government department.
We cannot speak of a better life for all if we do not on a sustained basis improve the lives of our young people. Policies however wonderful, will remain mere pious hopes until we implement them.
At this gathering the South African delegation wishes to focus, however briefly, on four fundamental challenges facing the youth of the world.
It is a blot on humanity that at the beginning of the new millennium racism, racial prejudice and racial discrimination are still a part of the fabric of so many societies. We dare not speak of youth and development, and youth and a bright future, if we do not conduct a sustained, determined and committed all round struggle against all forms and manifestations of racism. This should be so even if it loses some political parties votes. Racism must never become respectable.
War and violent conflicts still rage in parts of Europe, Asia, the Americas and the African continent. It is of course the young who are the principle victims. Within this group it is the young women and the girl-child who are the main suffers of rape, kidnapping and other forms of humiliation. In this sense peace and development are two sides of the same coin. We South Africans who were recipients of an extraordinary solidarity movement, take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the youth who are engaged in a titanic battle for human-rights, self determination and a wold free of war and violent conflict.
In this context we express an unequivocal condemnation of all forms and acts of terrorism. More so when we witness the devastation caused by the terrorist outrage in Nairobi and Dar-es-Slaam a few days ago. In the name of the youth of the world we cannot and should not remain silent in the face of terrorism.
One of the most devastating killer diseases in Southern Africa, is HIV-Aids. Millions of our people mainly young people are HIV Aids sufferers. These young people will die and not even have the priviledge of the memory of youth. In South Africa we are embarking on a massive Aids awareness campaign. We must target the young women and men. At the moment our young women are precluded from using the female condom because they are expensive and also not easily available. But we, with our neighbours, require the assistance of the international community to fight the spread of HIV Aids. In this context we wish to emphasize the fact that women must have the right to choose and have control over their own bodies.
All our declarations on youth and development will remain pious slogans until we deal decisively with the prevalence of poverty. Poverty alleviation also means that those who have should be more ready to share with those who do not have. Can we in all honesty say that we want to improve the quality of live of the youth of the world if we do not do something about the plight of hundreds of millions of young people living in developing and least developed countries of the world. We must have a sustained and concentrated effort at creating a New World order in which we can share more equitably the wealth created on a world scale. Job creation on a sustained basis is the prerequisite for dealing with the ravages of poverty at both the national and international levels.
For the youth of our continent we think it is both feasible and desirable that the 21st century be Africa's century. That we unleash a process of African Renaissance that will take our continent from the margins of human development to the centre of human endeveaour and development. Humanity began on our continent and in the 21st century let Africa be at the centre of human development.
Let our generation so work that the future's great poets, artists, composers, musicians and cultural workers should depict our youth in the wonderful colours and melodious notes of a non racial, non-sexist prosperous and democratic world order.
Let us at least leave the foundation for the future generation to say those who came before us left us a basis on which we can build a better life for all.
Let us implement in our own countries and on a world scale the declarations and policies that we shall adopt at this historic conference.