- Programme Directors, Hon Govender & Hon. Frolick
- Honourable Members of Parliament present
- Speaker, Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Hon. W.M. Mosupyoe
- Hon Members of Gauteng Legislature present
- Secretary to Parliament, Mr Xolile George
- Secretary to the Legislature
- Chairperson of National Youth Development Agency, Dr. ST Myende
- Officials of Parliament and Legislature present
- Special Guests from civil society, youth based and student organizations present
- Delegates to the Youth parliament
Dumelang, Sanibonani, Good Morning
- It is with utmost humility, honour and gratitude that we deliver the Opening Address to this historic occasion, as we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of what is popularly referred as the youth Uprisings of 1976.
- We equally acknowledge the warm welcoming remarks by the Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
- On behalf of the Presiding Officers of Parliament, let me take this opportunity to salute all our guests and participants, for joining us in this Youth Parliament - as a representation of youth from across the length and breadth of our country.
- I also take this opportunity to thank the organisers and various stakeholders for ensuring the successful convening of this Symposium, for reflections, meditation, dialogue and collaboration.
- This Youth Parliament is to this point, a necessity of our business as parliament, and not mere conventional practice of the State.
- This parliament must interrogate progress being made, to reshape and reposition the lives of our youth and children, as set out in our priorities, that underscore a developmental agenda, responsive to the evolving needs of our people.
- Thus, fellow delegates and participants, we are convened, under a particular lens, that prioritizes youth empowerment for a sustainable future.
- As the youth and professional sector, you are to this end invited to make your individual and collective contributions, towards refining our oversight and legislative processes, as a democratic parliament of the people, by the people and for the people.
- Parliament, as the primary site for Oversight will be challenged to translate the outcomes of this dialogue, into measurable outcomes for immediate, medium and long term implementation.
- To achieve this, such platforms are critical as a means of constant evaluation and responsiveness, to an evolving political, economic and social environment, in the local, continental and global space.
Significance and essence of June 16, 1976 struggle
- In Commemorating this historic occasion, the current generation must properly locate the essence of the 1976 struggle, in order to understand present challenges as part of the long arc of liberation.
- This was a moment in our painful history, when the youth, the children of Soweto and across the country, did not wake up to die, however decided to take ownership of their future, through a protracted struggle to confront and combat their oppression.
- These youth led struggles of 1976, became the focal point of opposition, when other organisations fighting for liberation were either banned and many leaders in exile, underground or imprisoned.
- It was characterised as the period of People’s Power, where apartheid rule was being displaced in all corners of society, through forms of self-government across our communities.
- It was a period for the liberation of consciousness from psychological and political oppression, to rebuild political unity for self determination.
- As we gather today, it would be remiss, not to underline what the struggle then was, what was lost, what was preserved, in order to understand what we are fighting for.
- It was a youth led ideological struggle, against a system that sought to limit and stunt the development potential and economic role of our youth, through imposing the colonisers model of the world.
- In this way, the system sought to ensure the uninterrupted production and reproduction of cheap black labour, for the benefit of white capitalist accumulation, in ways that turned our youth to permanent hewers of wood and drawers of water.
- Thus, we understand the call of the current generation of youth, as underlined in the theme of this Parliament, that political freedom without changing the economic base that reproduces oppression is not complete.
- To allow the present youth to be integrated into a system that apartheid built, is to want transformation but not a delinking from the very structures, institutions and infrastructure that ensured white supremacy and black alienation.
Thinking through the present and future
- In thinking through a different future, our challenge as parliamentarians is to understand, as mentioned by public commentators, that any victory that comes at excessive cost to the people is tantamount to defeat.
- It is to internalise the fact that the struggle is not over.
- It is to understand that the struggle has moved from the streets of our communities, to different sites of struggle in universities, industry, corporate, spaces of the performative Arts, culture, spirituality, sports and other aspects of social life.
- That is why some political thinkers are saying the struggle feels different.
- To this end, our repeated call to youth of today is to re-member what the struggle was for.
- It is for the youth to pick up the baton and not become passive recipients of government, private and public interventions.
- It is to reclaim education as a site of struggle.
- It is to reclaim our democracy by ensuring you register to vote in order to decide the type of country and the world you wish to live in.
- The multiple, interlocking, interrelated challenges facing the youth are not a problem of the future but are the problem of the now.
- It is to make your mark and contribution through all sites of People’s Power, and especially through our municipalities, Legislatures and Parliament.
Youth Parliament thematic Areas
- In this regard, Parliament invites all youth based stakeholders to contribute to the contemporary challenges captured in the thematic areas.
- The transformation and access to quality education as means to reclaim the present and future.
- The confrontation of the problem of precarious labour, in the changing world of work, to redefine a different development path.
- The mobilization of a multisectoral compact to accelerate youth development and policy implementation.
- Re-asserting the role of the democratic parliament, as the epicentre for lawmaking, oversight and public participation.
By way of Conclusion
- This parliament is invited to participate meaningfully in ensuring renewed modes of life through an oversight agenda, that affirms our freedoms, even under conditions of scarcity and constraint.
- As parliament, we have committed to become more deliberate and intentional to deepen accountability and strengthen the state capacity to deliver services.
- Let us be inspired by the sacrifices of the youth of 1976, who showed that the future of South Africa, depends on the determination of the youth.
- Passiveness, hedonism, drugs and alcohol abuse, do not build nations.
- This is an invitation to a discourse building, that can achieve greater unity of purpose amongst the youth.
- It is an invitation to Remember that you are born of a people, who turned shame into triumph.
- Parliament is a theatre of contestation and oversight as a necessity in developing a transformative strategy for social change.
- Thus, our presence here today, in the great city of Johannesburg, is to give credence to all voices in general and the marginalized, unemployed and poor youth, against a history of erasure, that the youth of 1976 sought to discontinue.
- To this end, we wish you all fruitful and illuminating discussions and resolutions.
I thank you
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