ANC has abandoned the youth
6 February 2017
Good morning fellow South Africans and citizens of the Capital city.
It is great to be back with you here in Tshwane where together we showed the ANC what happens when you do not deliver on your promises and focus more on enriching yourself and not on serving the people.
On Thursday, we will hear the same old empty words from President Jacob Zuma about what the ANC has achieved and what they plan for the next year when he gives his State of the Nation address (SONA).
The DA has been talking to young people in the run-up to SONA and we have heard how hopeless they feel. Without skills, there is little hope of getting a job.
The fact is the ANC governs like black lives don’t matter and have left our young people with very little hope of ever getting the skills they need to live the lives they want to.
Young people are denied the opportunities they deserve because the ANC have, for two decades, utterly failed to provide skills and quality education.
The DA believes that developing our young people must be our top priority. If our young people are provided with the skills they need to find jobs, they will prosper and so will our country.
Yet, young people today face a constant struggle against a system that has left them without opportunities.
The ANC has created a generation of young people who are not only unemployed, but increasingly unemployable.
Children are put through a school system that does not prepare them properly to become active participants in the economy.
Those who do manage to qualify for tertiary education must then struggle to get financing. Opportunities are few and far between.
My colleague, Refiloe Nt’sekhe, went to the North West province on Friday. She saw how under the Premier League Leader, Supra Mahumapelo’s control, the ANC government promised to address youth unemployment, yet delivered only patronage and corruption that steals opportunities from our youth.
Supra spent a staggering R3.1 million on T-shirts, caps, DVD’s and youth camps that in no way help young people get jobs.
Here in Tshwane, Sputla’s infamous carwash in Mamelodi, cost R6.6 million yet failed to create sustainable jobs and was in fact used to store and distribute ANC posters during the election.
The programmes set up by the previous ANC government have basically funnelled money towards ANC aligned people. 63 of the co-operatives set up under the Tshepo 10 000 programme are not functioning.
Distributing money meant for skills development to patronage projects will not help young people who are unemployed.
Zuma and his cronies are far more interested in spending money on themselves and T-shirts than they are in developing the future of our country.
The City of Cape Town invests R25 million in 107 youth initiatives that give young people the skills they need to access employment.
The DA does not make empty promises.
We have proven that where we govern, we make progress and we are determined to ensure that the youth of this country are provided with the skills they need to live the lives they want to.
By investing in our youth we invest in a better future for this county and the DA are wholly committed to doing this.
Issued by Phumzile Van Damme, DA National Spokesperson, 6 February 2017
