Good morning, fellow citizens.
Thank you for joining us today to share in our celebration of young South Africans, and to talk about what we can do to offer the youth of this country more and better opportunities in life.
I’m sorry we’re not doing this in person, but in these times we have to be cautious and we can’t take any unnecessary risks. But still, we are reaching thousands of young people as this event is live-streamed across the country.
You, the young people of South Africa, may be the generation facing the biggest challenges right now but, as my young colleague Luyolo said a few minutes ago, you’re also the generation with the power to actually do something about it. You have the numbers to make a real difference.
You need to realise the power you hold in this relationship between government and the people. As long as our democracy works – and I assure you, it does still work – then all the power lies with you.
What you choose to do with this power will make or break the future of this country.
Now, you may be watching this broadcast and wondering: What could a political party possibly still offer me that I haven’t heard before? Why should I believe any of it?
And I can understand why many young people have become disillusioned with politics. Year after year, politicians have been making the same promises. And year after year, these promises are broken.
The situation today for young South Africans leaving school or leaving college or university seems to be more hopeless than ever before. Unemployment is at a record high. Poverty is at a record high. And crime, gangs and drugs are claiming more and more of our youth than ever before.
While life gets harder for young South Africans, we see politicians living it up way beyond even their fat salaries. The same politicians who tell you there is no money for tertiary education are driving around in cars that cost more than a big house.
The same politicians who tell you there is no money to put more cops on the streets to keep your communities safe, have just awarded themselves an increase in VIP protection.
So I understand if you’ve become cynical. What good has it done to listen to the promises of politicians, if these promises always go nowhere?
That’s a very good question.
Here’s my answer: If you’re basing your expectations on the promises of politicians alone, you’re using the wrong criteria.
Anyone can make promises and pledges. Over the next four months leading up to the elections everyone will be doing this. That’s the easy part.
The hard part is delivering on your word. And that’s what you should be looking at. Not “what does this party say?” but “what does this party do?”
If you’re choosing a government – whether’s it’s local, provincial or national – its track record matters far more than its promises.
The DA may govern only one of nine provinces, and it may govern less than ten percent of the municipalities in South Africa, but what it does in these places puts the ANC government to shame.
And let me give you some examples of this. On this Youth Day, let me tell you about a few things the DA government in the Western Cape has done to increase opportunities for young people and give them a better start in life.
Let’s begin with education, which is arguably the best way a government can equip young people for the future. And under a DA government, learners in the Western Cape have a better chance of completing a quality education than anywhere else.
The Western Cape has the lowest school drop-out rate in the country, which means more people stay in school there until they reach their matric exams. This sets them off on a better path in life and opens far more doors for them.
Some schools in the Western Cape – and specifically on the Cape Flats – are starting pilot programmes for robotics and coding, and in Saldanha Bay there’s a project underway to train high school teachers in digital technology.
It’s also the only province where the government continued to feed hungry school children throughout the lockdown. Everywhere else, where the ANC governs, these school feeding programmes were shut down and children had to go hungry.
Again, always look at what a governing party does, and not simply what it says.
Once these learners leave school, the Western Cape government also has a number of programmes to give young people work experience, skills training and a foot in the jobs door.
One of these programmes is called the Premier Advancement of Youth Project which gives matriculants work experience in the various departments of the provincial government through mentorship and on-the-job training.
Since the PAY project was launched in 2012, almost 5,000 matriculants have benefited from this internship programme.
One of the biggest employers in the Western Cape is agriculture, and the provincial government runs various human capital development programmes in this sector that offer young people the chance to develop skills and acces work.
These programmes include bursaries, scholarships, internships, as well as the chance to enrol in an agriculture mentorship programme called the Young Professional Persons Programme.
The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport also has a programme, in partnership with various foundations and NGOs, which they call Year Beyond. This offers 18 to 25 year-olds crucial work experience and a pathway to further studies.
It also teaches young people to become active citizens – something we’re going to need a lot more of if we want to fix our country.
An issue that affects the youth in the Western Cape more than anywhere else is the threat of gangs and drugs. And while policing by SAPS might be the responsibility of national government, the DA is not prepared to simply stand by and watch as communities fall victim to a lack of visible policing.
That’s why the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town launched the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan, or LEAP, at the beginning of last year.
These extra boots on the ground in Mitchells Plain have already had a huge impact in making that community safer, and the province is on track to meet its target of deploying 1,000 LEAP officers by October.
The provincial government also has something called the Youth Safety Ambassador Programme, which aims to place 1,000 young people at schools, municipalities, NGOs and other locations around the province to serve as youth violence prevention facilitators.
That’s what it looks like when a government does less talking and more doing.
But if we’re talking youth opportunities, perhaps the most important indicator of all is the employment rate. And four times a year, when these numbers are released by Stats SA, we are reminded that no other province comes close to the DA-run Western Cape when it comes to jobs.
Our country is in a severe unemployment crisis, with more than 43% of working-age South Africans unable to find a job. And most of them are under the age of 30.
But, the expanded unemployment rate in the Western Cape is a full 17.5 percentage points lower than the average for the other eight ANC-run provinces.
Are we satisfied with this? No, of course not. We need to get the unemployment rate all the way down to single figures. But at least DA governments are in the fight against unemployment. ANC governments have given up this fight a long time ago.
And that’s what you get in the DA: a party that will fight for you every step of the way. A party that will never lose hope for the future of young people in this country.
We believe the war on unemployment can be won, and we know how to do it.
We believe the war on poverty and hunger can be won, and we know how to do it.
We believe the war against criminals, gangs and drugs can be won, and we know how to do it.
We believe there can be a bright future for every young South African, and we know how to unlock it.
But don’t just take my word for it. Because talk is cheap. Look at our track record.
Compare the DA’s record to that of the ANC on any issue, from service delivery to education, and from job creation to community safety.
Ask yourself which of these two governments would be most likely to help you fulfil your dreams and live a full, meaningful life.
Go out on the registration weekend of the 17th and 18th of July and make sure you are correctly registered to vote in the October elections, particularly if you’re a first-time voter.
And then make sure you do your bit, as an active young citizen of this country, to choose a government that doesn’t just talk about all these things, but actually gets it done.
Thank you.
Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.