Ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for inviting me to share this special meeting with you.

It is always a pleasure to meet with young people as you are the future of our country. We are happy that you meet to discuss serious matters of leadership as it gives us comfort that our country will be in good hands in the future.

You meet during an important month during which we remember the former president of the ANC and one of the foremost founding fathers of our democracy, Mr Oliver Tambo.

President Tambo provided direction and leadership to the ANC, and in that way the country, during difficult times. He ensured that a firm foundation is laid for the wonderful country we live in today, which enshrines human rights, justice, non-racialism, non-sexism and which strives to achieve full equality and prosperity for all.

He was a firm believer in education and excellence. He promoted patriotism, selflessness, humility and hard work in the service of the country. I urge you to find out more about Mr Oliver Reginald Tambo and emulate him so that you can become outstanding leaders of this country.

As the youth you are a very important part of our country.

Census 2011 revealed that we are essentially a nation of young people. Just over a third of the population is under the age of 15.

Thus our focus on improving the quality of education is well-placed. We are therefore pleased that the Census results showcase the strides we have made in educating our country’s children.

According to the Census results, the proportion of children with no schooling has halved over the period between 1996 and 2011. 

There is also a huge increase in the enrolment of our children from pre-school to primary and high school right up to tertiary level.

We are thus on the right track as far as education is concerned.
You will recall that the Freedom Charter on which the Constitution of the Republic is based, pronounces eloquently on education, culture and skills development.
It says;
“The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!
The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by amass state education plan;

Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;

The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished’’.

We are pleased therefore that your organization promotes and prioritises education. This means you are well poised to contribute to helping us deal with the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Government alone can never successfully address these challenges.

As young people you need to find your own niche and contribute.

For example, you need to familiarize yourself with the National Development Plan, the socio-economic blueprint which outlines what type of society we want to have built by the year 2030. 

The National Development Plan is designed to help us take forward the work we have been doing over the past 19 years, aimed at achieving quality health care, water, sanitation, electricity, roads and housing. In this manner, you, as our children, especially the black majority, can have a better future than us and your grandparents.

You should also be ready to contribute to the implementation of the National Youth Employment Accord that was signed in April this year.

Social partners – business, labour, government and the community sector especially youth organisations, committed to the Youth Employment Accord as an important step towards promoting youth employment.

We can make the Accord work for young people. In fact, we can succeed in anything we do as South Africans when we set our sights to doing it.

Therefore, let me invite you to be part of the process of driving the implementation of the NDP and the youth accord to help us create amore prosperous South Africa.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you should be aware, our country has a remarkable Constitution that protects the rights of all, including our special resource, the children.

We also have the landmark and progressiveChildren’s Act of 2005, which outlines the rights of children, amongst other legislation.

Caring communities protect children. We therefore rely on our communities to act as a buffer that protects our children from marauding criminals, and in fact, to protect children sometimes even from their own family members and relatives where necessary.

It is therefore painful and shocking that we could have the incidents such as what has happened at Diepsloot and Kathlehong where children have been brutally assaulted and killed in a horrific manner.

It defies logic, and there could never be any justification for killing innocent, helpless and defenceless children. Such cruelty should not go unpunished.

We have directed the law enforcement agencies to do everything in their power to find the culprits.

We urge the communities to contain their anger and exercise restraint. Such matters must be left to the police to handle. They will find the culprits.

This reminds us that we need to reinculcate the time-honoured value that every child is my child, umntwanawakhongumntwanawami, and work together to protect our children.

We urge parents and relatives to exercise maximum vigilance at all times and ensure that children are safe.

Let me end with your own mantra;

“When the Vessel of Change departed its journey, none of us were aware of the nature of the storms that lied ahead of us, the depth of the seas that we would be sailing at and the prospects of encountering the heavily armed pirates along our journey, but we remained focused, amid all those uncertainties.

Today, our vision is much stronger than it was yesterday, our commitment as the captains of the Vessel of Change is much bigger than it was yesterday and all our objectives are much clearer than they were yesterday.”

I wish you all the best in all your endeavours.

I thank you.