In the ANC's closed, crony society, people get preferential treatment if they have friends in high places. That explains why Jacob Zuma's former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, can be fast-tracked for release on medical parole -- without official confirmation that he is terminally ill -- while hundreds of other terminally ill prisoners die waiting for their parole applications to be processed. Shaik's discharge is a case of "parole for pals". That is how the closed, crony society operates. It benefits members of a closed network whose interests, like Zuma and Shaik's, are mutually reinforcing. It leads to corruption and power abuse.
Shaik's parole is just the first step. In a recent interview, Zuma hinted strongly that he would pardon Shaik should he become President. He said: "Why should I discriminate against him [Shaik], because he happens to be my comrade and friend? How can I punish him for that?"
The ANC has failed the vast majority of prisoners who do legitimately qualify for medical parole, but it has personally benefited Shaik. In the same way, the ANC has failed to create opportunity for the vast majority of South African youth with its closed, crony policies, but it has privileged a select few, like its blundering Youth League President, Julius Malema.
In return for their slavish obedience to Jacob Zuma and their promises to "kill for Zuma", members of the Youth League's ruling clique are rewarded with perks, positions and privileges. They drive around in fancy cars and wear flashy clothes, which haven't been earned through hard work and talent, but which have been acquired through networks based on cronyism and corruption.
The Gucci revolutionaries in the ANC Youth League couldn't care less about empowering and developing the youth. Like their counterparts in the parent body, they are only interested in keeping on Zuma's right side, lining their back pockets and entrenching their power inside and outside the party. That is why, at its National Executive Committee (NEC) Lekgotla ten days ago, the Youth League undertook to continue its support for Zuma and insisted on nominating its Deputy President as Chairperson of the new National Youth Development Agency (NDYA) Board.
The NDYA will be funded by the taxpayer, and you can count on it that if members of the ANC Youth League get onto the Board, taxpayers' money will be wasted in expensive hotels and restaurants and squandered on BMWs and designer labels.
The ANC, like its Youth League, has betrayed the youth of South Africa. One of the key findings that went unnoticed earlier this week when Statistics South released its latest unemployment data is that 75% of all unemployed South Africans are aged between 15 and 34. More than one third are between 15 and 24 years old. These figures are an indictment on the ANC. They show that the ruling party has failed to equip the "born-free" generation with the education and skills they need to participate in the economy and thereby contribute to the prosperity of all South Africans.
The growing pool of poorly educated, unskilled and unemployed young South Africans aggravates a vicious cycle of other social problems - like poverty, delinquency, alcoholism, drug abuse and crime - which destroy the cornerstones of a democratic society: openness and opportunity. It also breeds frustration, anger and despair.
But the fact is that the ANC has actively swelled this pool of disadvantaged youth through its policies, which are destroying opportunity and entrenching the closed, crony society.
The rot starts in the education system. Too many learners drop out of the system before they reach benchmarked levels of achievement, and before they are functionally literate and numerate. Between 2005 and 2007, 535 000 young people left school without a passing certificate of any kind. Most of these people have no prospect of finding gainful employment.
Those who remain in the system do not, by and large, receive a quality education: they are not provided with the tools they need to exercise their freedom, take advantage of their opportunities, and develop their full potential.
Even if learners make it to matric - and pass - this does not guarantee them a job. That is because of labour laws which make it harder for job-seekers to enter the market and discourage employers from hiring workers - especially those who do not have a skills qualification or work record. Meanwhile, the ANC's efforts to improve skills development by funding learnerships through the sectoral education and training authorities (Setas) have backfired. The Setas are a financial sinkhole: they are riddled with corruption and they have repeatedly failed to respond to the needs of the market.
The DA believes that the state should focus on expanding and promoting equal opportunities for the youth through quality education, incentivised skills development and policies conducive to job-creating economic growth.
Our education policy focuses on the essentials: reading, writing and calculating. It helps learners from disadvantaged backgrounds to overcome poverty and develop their natural talents by encouraging them to match their opportunities with hard work and personal responsibility, and by rewarding them for doing so. We will introduce a bursary voucher programme for academically promising children from low-income families, giving them the opportunity to receive better school education.
The DA will provide all learners who pass matric with an opportunity voucher that they can use to start a small business or subsidise the costs of further education.
To make it easier for young people to enter the labour market, we will reform the laws that destroy the prospects of many unemployed people to get jobs. We will encourage employers to hire first-time jobseekers by subsidising employees' wages for a specific period to enable them to gain experience and demonstrate what they are capable of doing. And to promote skills development, we will reimburse employers for the cost of skills training.
We believe that these policies will go a long way to reversing the scourge of youth unemployment brought upon us by the ANC.
Our manifesto also includes a range of proposals that enable youths from disadvantaged backgrounds access to various work opportunities. They can sign up for a Youth Development Programme, or enrol for voluntary community service in the public sector, the police or the defence force. Those who complete these training periods would either be absorbed into the permanent structures of the public service or qualify for an opportunity voucher to further their careers.
These proposals will create opportunity for the youth. In fact, the DA is the only party that puts youth development at the centre of its agenda. We have a range of other initiatives aimed at empowering the youth - like our Young Leaders' Programme and our volunteer campaign, which you can find out more about at www.contributetochange.org.za.
I invite you to be part of the DA's efforts to empower the youth. There is a new wave of interest in politics among young people. During the recent IEC voter registration window, more than 1 million young people in the 18-to-29 age bracket registered to cast their ballots for the first time, compared to 300 000 older citizens. A total of 6 million youths under the age of 29 are now on the voters' roll, compared to 4 million in 2004.
Your vote is your power. Vote for a party that cares about the youth. Vote for a party that has carefully researched, workable, and costed solutions to unemployment, poverty and crime. Come 22 April, vote DA and vote to win!
This is an extract from a speech by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, at the University of Cape Town, March 5 2009
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