ANC Today

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Volume 7, No. 23, 15-21 June 2007

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THIS WEEK:

* Letter from the President: The youth – a valued possession of the nation!
* African integration: Debating continental government

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The youth – a valued possession of the nation!

This edition of ANC TODAY coincides with June 16, National Youth Day. We
therefore take this opportunity once more to greet and salute the youth of our
country. At the same time, this important national holiday provides us with an
opportunity to assess the progress we are making in addressing the critical
issue of youth development and empowerment.

Properly to deal with this matter critical to the future of our country, we need
to pose and answer the question – who are the youth? This requires that we
evolve a proper socio-economic profile of our youth, which, necessarily, should
be as accurate as possible. Here we will present only some of the information
relevant to this profile.

According to the Statistics South Africa report, "Census 2001: Stages in the
life cycle of South Africans”, published in 2005: "17.5 million people aged
14–34 years were counted in South Africa on the night of 9/10 October 2001, or
four in ten (39.1%) of the total population. Of these, 10.3 million people were
aged between 14 and 24 (22.9% of the total population), and 7.3 million were
aged between 25 and 34 (16.2%).”

By any standard, these figures mean that the development and empowerment of our
youth must constitute one of the strategic focal points of all our programmes
aimed at the reconstruction and development of our country and the building of a
people-centred society.

In this regard, in a 29 January 2007 Statement entitled "Youth Policy: the key
to integrated youth development”, quite correctly, the National Youth Commission
(NYC) said: "The fundamental point of departure is that since youth account for
40% of our total population, youth development should be approached in an
integrated manner. Housing delivery is youth development, access to education is
youth development, and the creation of jobs is youth development – in fact all
of government's work affects young people. For this reason, our (NYC) strategic
role is not to duplicate an already existing government delivery infrastructure.
Instead, we work very closely with government departments as we thrive to
mainstream youth development."

In this context, after the conclusion of a Lekgotla held from 28 February to 2
March 2007 "to interrogate national development statements, including the State
of the Nation Address (SONA) and the budget speech recently released by
government", on 5 March, the NYC also said:

"The lekgotla noted and welcomed the cooperation from government departments
both nationally and provincially. However, the ongoing inconsistent manner in
which youth development matters are attended to is a cause for concern. There is
glaring lack of understanding of what the youth development agenda of the
democratic order entails and its intended impact in advancing the broader
national development agenda. The meeting committed to further deepen the
engagement with clusters and host Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) on Youth
Affairs for youth development to ultimately find concrete expression in the
government programme of action (POA)."

All this suggests strongly that all spheres of government should make a critical
assessment of their youth development and empowerment programmes, as well as the
coordination among themselves, to ensure that we do indeed achieve the
objectives we have set ourselves with regard to a section of the nation which,
after all, constitutes fully two-fifths of our population.

At the same time, we must recall the fact that a central pillar of our strategic
platform is that we need to rely on a people-driven process of change in order
to build the people-centred society we have spoken of. The question therefore
arises as to whether the youth is well organised to play the role of a driver of
progressive change, as they did when they took to the streets on 16 June 1976 to
contribute to the struggle for the defeat of the apartheid system!

In the 5 March Statement, the NYC said: "The weak state of civil society youth
organisations remains a major concern to the youth commission. It was agreed
that the NYC would engage the South African Youth Council (SAYC) to establish
constraints that contribute towards the decline of youth civil society
mobilisation. NYC will meet with the Provincial Youth Commissions while efforts
would also be made to establish the state of local youth development forums
(LYDF) at local government level."

The youth can and should play a critically important role in helping to build
the new society to which we are committed. Accordingly, the task to attend to
the mobilisation and organisation of the youth cannot and should not be left to
the NYC alone. All forces genuinely committed to the progressive transformation
of our society should also take on this task as part of their permanent
programme of action.

With regard to the important issue of education, the StatsSA "Stages in the life
cycle..." document said:

"Among those aged 14–17, 6.0% of 14-year-olds were not attending an educational
institution, increasing to 8.7% of 15-year-olds, 12.6% of 16-year-olds, and
18.5% of 17-year-olds. After the age of 17, there was a steep increase in the
proportion not attending an educational institution, from 29.3% among those aged
18 to 64.3% among those aged 21, and then to 86.0% among those aged 24.

"Following this steep increase, there was a slower increase to 95.9% among those
aged 34. At age 18, 65.5% of youth were attending school, while 2.8% were
attending a university or a technikon, and 2.4% another institution such as a
technical college. The attendance at a technikon or university reached a peak of
6.5% among those aged 20, and then gradually declined...

"The highest percentage of those with complete secondary education as their
highest level of education occurred at the age of 23 years (34.2%). The
percentage of those with tertiary qualifications as their highest level of
education grew steadily from 1.0% at the age of 18 years, to 11.6% at the age of
30 years, after which this percentage remained relatively stable."

These figures present a worrying picture that emphasises the imperative for us
to do much more to ensure that our youth access education. It is obvious that
without the requisite education and training, we will not be able to achieve our
objective of youth development and empowerment. Again the NYC has already
announced some initiatives to address this challenge, including the
popularisation of the Further Training and Education (FET) Colleges to assist
our youth to acquire the skills required by our society and economy.

Interestingly in this regard, "Stages in the life cycle..." said: "The field of
study of youth with tertiary qualifications was directly related to labour
market status. For example, on the one hand, among those with health care or
health science qualifications, 71.5% of youth were employed, while 10.8% were
unemployed and 17.7% were not economically active. Among those with law
qualifications, 71.1% of the youth were employed, while 10.6% were unemployed
and 18.3 % were not economically active. On the other hand, among those youth
with computer science and data processing qualifications, 50.3% were employed,
while 26.1% were unemployed, and 23.6% were not economically active. Among those
youth with qualifications in home economics, 49.5% were employed, 21.8% were
unemployed and 28.7% were not economically active."

These figures underline the importance of providing correct career guidance for
our youth, based on a scientific understanding of the needs of society and the
economy today and tomorrow. They also emphasise the need for continuous, life-
long learning to empower all our citizens to adapt to the impact of changing
technologies, necessitating the development of new skills.

As is generally recognised, we also face a serious problem of youth
unemployment. In this context, "Stages in the life cycle..." said:

"Among those aged 18 years, 5.2% were employed, 13.9% were unemployed and 70.4%
were not economically active, since many were still attending school or other
educational institutions at this age. Among those aged 29 years, however, 43.3%
were employed, 34.2% were unemployed and only 22.5% were not economically
active...

"Among those aged 30 years, 46.1% were employed, 31.8% were unemployed and 22.1%
were not economically active; at the age of 34 years, however, 50.6% were
employed, 27.7% were unemployed and 21.7% were not economically active. The
percentage of youth that was unemployed reached a peak of 39.1% at 25 years of
age and then gradually decreased.

"Unemployment is therefore, at least in part, a problem of youth; this applies
particularly to those in the age categories 22–31 years, where more than 35.0%
were unemployed, compared with the proportions of those who were employed or who
were not economically active."

All these figures speak for themselves. They convey the directive to our society
as a whole to focus on the task to reduce youth unemployment and increase youth
employment as we address the overall and important challenge of unemployment in
our country.

Among others, "Stages of the life cycle..." also deals with the important issue
of teenage pregnancies and so on. In this regard it said: "At the age of 14
years, almost all (99.0%) women had never given birth, but by the age of 34,
only one in ten (9.5%) had never given birth...At age 14, 1.0% had given birth
to at least one child; but at age 15, 2.8% had done so, increasing to 6.5% at
age 16; then to 13.1% at 17; to 21.9% at 18; and to 30.5% at the age of 19."

It must be a matter of great concern to all of us that nearly one-third of our
young women become mothers while they are in their teens. Inevitably, this would
negatively affect the quality of life of both mother and child, subtracting from
the important national objective to ensure the upliftment of both children and
the youth, including the girl child and young women.

Undoubtedly, this also relates to the issue of improving social cohesion
throughout South African society. We have to attend to this matter, which
includes family life and the responsibility of parents towards their children,
seriously and continuously. In this regard, in its 5 March Statement, the NYC
said:

"The (Lekgotla) welcomed the proposal by the President to establish a national
steering committee to interrogate and find lasting solutions to challenges of
national social cohesion. Youth are among the most affected by these challenges
and it was resolved that the conceptualisation of the process should include
youth formations and integrate the elements of NYS (National Youth Service). The
NYS speaks to these basic tenets of our nation building such as inculcating
patriotism, promoting social cohesion, community development etc."

The last matter we must mention in the context of youth challenges is crime.
"Stages of the life cycle..." says: "Of the approximately 171,000 people counted
in prisons, correctional institutions and police cells, as many as 122,000 were
between the ages of 14 and 34 years (71.4%)...

"There was an increase in the number of detained youth with each single-year age
increase, from a low count of 700 aged 14 years to a high count of 8,200 aged 26
years, followed by a more gradual decrease from a high count of 7,900 aged 27 to
a low count of 4,300 aged 34 years.

"The largest group, or 8,200 of the 122,000 youth in detention (6.7%) in 2001,
were aged 26 years.

"The vast majority of youth in detention, 117,000 of 122,000, were males
(96.2%).

"The vast majority, 97,000, were African (79.4%). This is however a slightly
smaller proportion than the African percentage of all youth aged 14–34 years
(81.0%).

"Coloured youth constituted 22,000 of the 122,000 detained youth (18.0%). This
proportion is more than double the proportion of coloured youth in the country
(8.7%).

"Only 3,000 of the detained youth (2,6%) was either white or Indian or Asian."

A complex of issues lies behind this incidence of crime among our youth,
resulting in them constituting as much as 71.4% of the prison and detained
population in 2001. We must treat this reality as an avoidable tragedy both for
the individuals concerned and society as a whole. Once again, it emphasises the
imperative for us to do everything we can to achieve the central objective of
the national democratic revolution of the development and empowerment of our
youth.

There are of course other matters concerning the youth, which must be an
integral part of our youth policy and programme. For example, the NYC has said
we must pose and respond practically to such questions as:

* Healthy Lifestyle: substance abuse, drug free society, participating in
  sporting activities, drugs and stardom?

* Youth with disability: Are there any programmes to support youth with
  disabilities: access, reasonable accommodation, designated jobs, meeting
  quotas set by legislation?

* Gender: Do young women still experience gender stereotypes?

In the near future, the nation will have to consider a revised five-year
National Youth Policy. The NYC is currently conducting final consultations to
complete this important statement of national policy towards a vitally important
section of our population. When the document is finalised, all of us will have
to treat it as the national order of the day that gives all of us our route of
march, which we should all follow with great determination.

In its 29 March 2007 Statement entitled "Youth Development Agenda is on Course",
the NYC said: "Responding to the challenge of youth development in South Africa,
the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) asserts that; 'Youth
development must focus on education and training, job creation and enabling
young people to realise their full potential and participate in society and
their future. It must restore the hope of our youth in the future and in their
capacity to channel their resourcefulness and energy into reconstruction and
development.'

"Further to this, former President Nelson Mandela explained the position of
youth and youth development in relation to the RDP as follows; 'The youth of our
country are the valued possession of the nation. Without them there can be no
future. Their needs are immense and urgent. They are at the centre of our
reconstruction and development plan.'"

As we celebrate National Youth Day, this is the message we must remember: "The
youth of our country are the valued possession of the nation. Without them there
can be no future.

Thabo Mbeki

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AFRICAN INTEGRATION

Debating Continental Government

Viewpoint by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

The question of African unity and solidarity is itself more than a century old.
In the spirit of Pan-Africanism there were earlier initiatives by Sylvester
Williams, WEB Du Bois, Marcus Garvey and many others.

A few weeks ago, during the Department of Foreign Affairs Budget Vote, we
expressed hope that parliament would initiate a debate on economic and political
integration of Africa.

At Ghana's independence fifty years ago, the first President of Ghana, Kwame
Nkrumah, said: "Our independence is meaningless if it is not linked to the total
independence of the African continent."

There were various events held from 1958 to generate discussions on forging
African unity. These events, together with other important meetings in
Brazzaville, Casablanca, Monrovia and Lagos, would culminate in the founding of
the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963.

Why was the integration so necessary? Why was the OAU established, besides for
the pursuit of decolonisation? In 1963, in his speech entitled "Africa Unite",
Nkrumah said: "The forces that unite us are far greater than the difficulties
that divide us at present, and our goal must be the establishment of Africa's
dignity, progress and prosperity. It is for us to grasp that golden opportunity
to prove that the genius of African people can surmount the separatist
tendencies in sovereign nationhood by coming together speedily, for the sake of
Africa's greater glory and infinite well being, into a Union of African States."

The "golden opportunity" of which Nkrumah spoke with urgency was not fully
realised during his lifetime. "We must act now", he said. "Tomorrow may be too
late."

While the collective political will was strong, conditions had not yet been
attained for such a Union of African States.

The integration process started in earnest with the formation of the OAU even
though it was not through the "Union of African States" that Kwame Nkrumah,
Sekou Toure and others had pressed for.

Speaking at the OAU Summit in Tunis in June 1994, then President Nelson Mandela
expressed this position very passionately:

"Finally, at this meeting in Tunis, we shall remove from our agenda the
consideration of the question of apartheid in South Africa.

"Where South Africa appears on the agenda again, let it be because we want to
discuss what its contribution shall be to the making of the new African
Renaissance. Let it be because we want to discuss what materials it will supply
for the rebuilding of the African city of Carthage.

"One epoch with its historic tasks has come to an end. Surely, another must
commence with its own challenges. Africa cries out for a new birth, Carthage
awaits the restoration of its glory.

"If freedom was the crown which the fighters of liberation sought to place on
the head of Mother Africa, let the upliftment, the happiness, prosperity and
comfort of her children be the jewel of the crown."

That Africa should unite has never been in question. The question is the model
of integration that would help accelerate Africa's economic development and
strengthen democratic governance on the continent.

The current leadership of the continent, realising that the OAU belonged to the
epoch with its historic tasks that had come to an end and that another had to
come with its own challenges, launched the AU with clear objectives. These
include:

* acceleration of the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
* promotion of peace, security and stability on the continent;
* promotion of sustainable development at the economic and cultural levels;
* the integration of Africa's economies;
* embracing gender equality.

The question therefore is what model of integration is best suited for the
realisation of these objectives. Integration has been a continuous process,
which has been taken to a higher level through the AU and its institutions.

These institutions include the Peace and Security Council, which, together with
a common defence policy and the establishment of a Standby Force, deals directly
with questions of security, peace and stability, including peace-keeping
missions.

The Pan-African Parliament, the Human Rights Court and a host of other common
policies that have been agreed upon are further evidence of this ongoing
integration. This integration is meant to accelerate Africa's social and
economic transformation, with the following priorities:

* eradication of poverty;
* placing African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path
  of sustainable growth and development;
* halting the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process and
  enhancing its full integration into the global economy;
* accelerating the empowerment of women.

This process focuses on infrastructure development; enhanced food security;
health, education and energy security; gender parity; information and
communications technology; proper management of migration; and human resource
development.

The question to answer is whether the time has come for a Union Government to
implement the above, even if it targets a few areas. Should we do more in
rationalising and strengthening the Regional Economic Communities as building
blocks? Should we strengthen the AU Commission's capacity by providing it with
both human and financial resources and giving it a stronger mandate? Should we
do more to mobilise financial resources for the implementation of
infrastructure, human resource development, agriculture, and so on?

If we agree to form the Union Government, what areas would fall under it? There
are suggestions that we may start with defence, foreign affairs, trade,
infrastructure, finance, and agriculture, among others.

Others say we should go for a fully fledged Union Government. If we do, there
would have to be harmonisation of policies in these areas. There would also have
to be proper funding of this government. Are the conditions now ripe for a Union
of African States? These are some of the questions we have to answer.

The forthcoming Ghana Summit will consider nothing but this question of the
Union Government.

Should it be established now? And if yes, then all the attendant questions will
need to be considered. And if not, what then needs to be done to accelerate
integration? Other governments across the continent are consulting their
respective citizenry on this matter because there is no consensus yet on how to
accelerate the integration.

As we ponder these critical questions, it would be important to reflect on the
words of then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki at the adoption of the present
Constitution of South Africa:

"I am an African.

"I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa.

"The pain of the violent conflict that the peoples of Liberia, Somalia, the
Sudan, Burundi and Algeria is a pain I also bear.

"The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is
a blight that we share.

"The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the
periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of
despair.

"This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned.

"This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent
that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity says that Africa
reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes.

"Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now!

"Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!

"However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper!

"Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry
baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of
cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and
say - nothing can stop us now!”

The question we have to ask is how best can we achieve this peaceful and
prosperous Africa?

** Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is a member of the ANC National Executive Committee
and Minister of Foreign Affairs. This is an edited extract from an address in
the parliamentary debate on the unification of Africa, 14 June 2007.

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