Keynote address by Deputy President Paul Mashatile at the National Youth Day Commemoration, Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium, Mangaung, Free State Province

Programme Director;

Acting Premier of the Free State, Mr Ketso Makume and Members of the Executive Council

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities,

Ministers and Deputy Ministers here present

Speaker of the National Assembly Honourable Mme Mapisa Nqakula and Deputy Speaker Ntate Lechisa Tsenoli

Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Ntate Amos Masondo

Ms Asanda Luwaca; Chairperson of the NYDA, and the leadership of the NYDA

The Mayor of Mangaung, and Councillors present

Our Young people gathered here today as well as around the country;

Members of the Diplomatic Corps

Director General, Senior and all officials of government

The CEO of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, Ms Kasthuri Soni;

The CEO of the Youth Employment Service, Mr Ravi Naidoo;

Leaders of all youth formations;

Young people of South Africa,

Dumelang! Molweni! Avuxeni! Ndi Matsheloni!

It is an honour for me to speak at this National Youth Day Commemoration hosted by the Free State as we mark the 47th anniversary of the June 16th uprising.

This is a significant event in our nation's calendar because it allows us to pay tribute to the young men and women whose lives were cut short at the hands of the inhumane apartheid regime.

June is also International Pride Month, we want to reiterate that the Constitution of the Republic outlaws all unfair discrimination based on sex, gender or sexual orientation, whether committed by the government or by a private party.

For this reason, the government strongly believes that the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) are human rights.

We will continue to defend and advance the rights of the LGBTQIA+ Community including ensuring that they are part of the mainstream economy.

People of South Africa, the youth of 1976 laid their lives for a purpose. They were driven by a resolve to bring down apartheid in favour of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united and prosperous South Africa.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Hence without fear or favour, we remain grateful to the youth of 1976 for their contribution to the social and political transformation of our nation.

Their undying spirit and commitment to ending apartheid helped pave the way for a more equitable education system in South Africa.

Because of them, the youth in schools are not compelled to acquire an inferior education in the language that has been imposed upon them.

In honour of that generation, we have developed a system that is conducive to learning, and as a result, many students are now able to choose the career of their choice.

Young people now have the prospect of going to higher education training institutions, which are also supported by the state.

Moreover, the youth of 1976 fought for their political freedom; now, we must fight for economic freedom; thus, the theme for this year is "Accelerating Youth Economic Emancipation for a sustainable future."

We are aware that economic independence is only attainable if we work together. Today's youth must draw inspiration from the youth of the past, who also demonstrated the magnitude and power of young people when they are united to combat social injustices.

As Peter Abrahams once observed, “You can't walk alone…Each man is bedded in his people, their history, their culture, and their values”.

That is true; thus, in the Constitution, we have committed to acknowledging past injustices, honour those who have suffered for justice and freedom in our country, respect those who have worked to build and develop our country, and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.

Today is the day we remember where we came from as a nation and recommit ourselves to never returning to the South Africa of the past. Together with the youth of this country, we are steaming ahead to build the country of our dreams.

Ladies and Gentlemen

As the majority of our population is comprised of youth, it is incumbent upon all sectors of society to collaborate in equipping the youth with the skills necessary for development and our collective prosperity.

If we fail to do so, we would have failed South Africa's future, as young people represent the future, and it is our responsibility to secure it.

As we work with the private sector, toward an inclusive economy that employs young people, we recognize that the path to an inclusive economy has not been simple, but like the youth of 1976, we are motivated by their undying spirit.

We remain focused and determined to ensure that the youth have access to socioeconomic opportunities.

Minister Dlamini-Zuma briefed me about the work we are doing to invest in youth that is being exhibited at the Opportunities Expo. She informed me that we are investing in real-time education, funding and mentorship opportunities that young people are now accessing. What was impressive was that the initiatives at the expo were led by the youth.

People of South Africa

As a government, we have placed the education and training of our young people at the top of our agenda. We believe that education is one of the most crucial enabling factors for attaining economic emancipation.

Over the years, we have invested hugely toward a transformed education system. We will continue to invest in the development of an inclusive education system in which children from low-income and working-class families also have access to quality education from the foundation phase and at higher education levels.

We have been investing in the modernisation of the delivery of education in our country. This includes ensuring that curriculum content is responsive to the rising demand of skilled labour, high-speed internet access, and that educational delivery methods are now innovative.

We have seen the educational outcomes, particularly the improvement in output demonstrated by the province of Free State, which has held the top position for the longest time in terms of matric results.

Programme Director

We congratulate the Free State Province and urge the remaining provinces to adopt the province's perpetual drive by investing equally in the education of our children so that our country can be globally competitive.

As part of exciting new disciplines in schools, the Department of Basic Education system has introduced robotics and coding subjects at the foundation phase of learning.

This will improve reading for meaning and understanding of concepts at an early phase and thereby give young children a strong foundation for the future.

The Department of Basic Education is also introducing the Three-Stream Education system to ensure that not only academically oriented students benefit from education, but that learners can also choose the vocational or occupational stream that suits their needs.

In addition to Technical Mathematics, Technical Science, and Marine Sciences, the sector is introducing 13 new vocational disciplines. This is part of the Government's aim to guarantee that schools not only encourage academic accomplishment but also vocational and occupational skills for young people.

Furthermore, to expedite the delivery of pertinent and acceptable skills, our Government remains committed to providing essential resources and infrastructure from the earliest levels of basic education to the tertiary level.

To guarantee that learners have access to the latest equipment, Government has recapitalized 540 of the potential 1,050 technical schools.

These investments and curriculum revisions are bound to open new doors for the youth. We urge the youth to take advantage of these previously unavailable disciplines.

Ladies and Gentlemen

We remain concerned that the economy is not expanding at a rate that permits the economic development of a large number of people, especially the youth.

It is for this reason that we are committing to accelerating Youth Economic Emancipation for a sustainable future.

In addition to existing government programmes of supporting entrepreneurs, through the NYDA Grant Programme, we are providing young entrepreneurs with access to both financial and non-financial business development support to enable them to establish or grow their businesses.

The programme focuses on youth entrepreneurs who are at intentional, promising and new stages of enterprise development.

For example in the recent past the programme has achieved the following:

2320 youth and youth-owned enterprises funded through financial interventions.

34209 youth-owned enterprises supported with non-financial development interventions.

6796 jobs created and sustained through supporting entrepreneurs and enterprises.

Together with the NYDA, we will expand our entrepreneurial support programme to reach as many young entrepreneurs as possible.

Furthermore, under the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, the Government has launched several youth development and empowerment initiatives to assist young people in entering the workforce.

The Presidential Employment Stimulus remains a crucial Government intervention to generate employment and livelihood opportunities, particularly at a time when the economy as a whole is not producing jobs at the required rate.

The Presidential Employment Stimulus builds on the many years of success of public employment programmes such as the Community Works Programme and the Expanded Public Works Programme.

During the prior fiscal year, the stimulus enabled the creation of nearly 650,000 new jobs and thereby creating sources of income for the youth. These opportunities were made available in numerous industries, including agriculture and across several other fields.

Of the people involved in the programme, 83 percent are youth. This brings the total number of participants in the Presidential Employment Stimulus since its launch in 2020 to over 1.2 million people.

More than 3.9 million young people have enrolled on the National Pathway Management Network, also known as SAYouth.mobi. This network provides a platform for young people to access learning and earning opportunities that are both all-inclusive and free of charge for data usage.

Close to 350, 000 young people have secured earning opportunities through the platform, with 68 percent of these being young women.

14 000 Technical and Vocational learners have secured workplace experience opportunities through the support of the Sector Education and Training Authorities in the Department of Higher Education and Training.

35 000 young people have secured non-financial support from the Department of Small Business Development and the National Youth Development Agency and close to 5 000 have received financial support to start and scale up their enterprises.

We are moving forward with this youth stimulation initiative because we are well aware that no nation can prosper if its youth are not engaged in community service activities that promote social cohesion.

In this regard, we have successfully revitalised the National Youth Service programme and now run one of the world's largest National Youth Service programmes with 47 000 participants working across sectors such as Early Childhood Development, Sport, Arts and Culture, Nutrition and Digital Mapping.

More importantly, we are seeing 30 percent of these participants entering into longer forms of employment and enterprises.

The Youth Employment Service, known as YES, is one of these. It is a partnership between Government and the private sector to address high youth unemployment.

To date, YES has placed over 100,000 South Africans between the ages of 18 and 29 in local businesses for a year of work experience.

Through YES, a total of R6 billion has been injected into the economy, enabling participants to support their families. Nearly two-thirds of participants come from households reliant on social grants, and 40 percent are employed upon completion of the programme.

This is a practical example of social compacting at work to respond to youth unemployment and to give young people the necessary experience to get ahead.

Our initiatives, strategies, and programmes are geared toward providing a hand-up, as opposed to a handout.

We believe that when we give the youth a hand-up, you enable them to see something inside themselves that they did not previously see.

The goal is to make sure that young people see a chance that didn't exist before and know that they can do more than they thought they could before.

We believe in the youth of our country. Hence we will fight hard for the development and growth of our youth. We urge the private sector to continue to work with us in providing opportunities for the youth.

If there is one thing that industry and the private sector must do, it is to hold action labs solely focused on improving the implementation of programs aimed at assisting young people.

In this sense, I mean that, of the ten growth sectors of the economy, we require the private sector to set targets for the number of employment and support for the youth, which we will measure and monitor in the action labs.

This work will be led together with the NYDA and the existing social and private sector partners.

In the next six months, we will need regular reports on the action labs agreed on interventions so that by the time we are in 2024 we can report practical results in this regard.

Ladies and Gentlemen

To keep young people active and engaged in our society, we must tap into their creative potential and expand the range of options accessible to them.

As you are all aware, young people are yearning for socioeconomic chances, and South Africa will only grow stronger if we continue to provide opportunities to our youth.

As I mentioned, earlier this morning, while on a walkabout at the Youth Opportunities Expo interacting with Young People, I was encouraged to see the various opportunities available to our youth.

In addition, we honour young people who have reached significant milestones in their respective fields through the annual Trail Blazer Programme, which was introduced in 2017 and seeks to highlight, celebrate, and profile young people who are doing extraordinary work.

South Africans consider this group of young people to be exemplary, and they join other Trailblazers who have been honoured in the past.

Alongside the measures put in place today, we are harnessing the capacity and resources of the state to respond to the immediate and future needs of young people.

Our country needs young people like yourselves.

Young people who will heed the call for betterment and development.

Young people who will innovate and collaborate for a better South Africa.

Young people who will address, without fear or favour, the challenges of gender-based violence.

Young people who are patriotic and are unashamed of being of service to South Africa and her people.

In conclusion, I would like to extend my best wishes to the South African National Netball Team, as Cape Town will host the tournament for the first time in Africa next month.

To the very end, we will be with you. Like the youth of 76, maintain the never die spirit and attitude and keep the trophy in our continent. This is your moment! I wish you all a happy Youth Day and a fruitful youth month.

Thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa