Address by President Jacob Zuma to the Inaugural Presidential Youth Jobs and Skills Indaba, Boksburg

02 Mar 2014

Honourable Ministers,
Deputy Ministers, MECs,
Chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA),
Representatives of various youth organisations,
Organised Business and Labour,
Compatriots,

Sanibonani, molweni, dumelang, good morning to you all.

It is with great pleasure that I address you today at this inaugural Presidential Indaba on Youth Jobs and Skills.

We are very happy that you all made the time to attend this important conference.

We take youth development seriously in our country which is why the National Youth Development Agency, (NYDA), reports directly to my office, the Presidency.

This is not surprising since South Africa is a youthful country, a country in which over 50% of our population is under the age of 39.

Census 2011 also revealed that   just over a third of the population is under the age of 15.

This means our country has a great future, especially if we invest correctly in youth development.

In April last year, the country reached an important milestone when the Youth Employment Accord was signed in Soweto, by youth leaders, business, labour, government and the community sector.

This was a collective resolve to work together to promote youth development in our country.

I requested Ministers Collins Chabane and Ebrahim Patel to convene this Presidential Youth Indaba to share with you the progress we have made in implementing the Accord.

We also wanted to hear your views about gaps and challenges in order to make improvements.

I trust that you have found the conference fruitful.

We have taken this Indaba so seriously that already nine Ministers and Deputy Ministers have spoken here.

You have also heard the views of trade union leaders, representatives of business, academics and leaders from youth formations.

We are already starting to see the fruits of our collective efforts.

In the nine months since the adoption of the Youth Employment Accord, youth employment grew strongly.

In fact, the Indaba heard on Friday that 420 000 new jobs have been created, mainly in construction linked to our National Infrastructure Plan, the trade sector, government programmes, business services, transport and communication.

You heard too, that Gauteng accounted for about half of the new youth jobs, with two hundred and ten thousand new jobs registered in our host province.

Gauteng has also spent about 120 million rand in youth enterprises. We congratulate Gauteng in investing in our youth in this progressive manner.

The Youth Employment Accord has also promoted the creation of internship opportunities for the youth in national departments, municipalities and state-owned enterprises.

All the work covered here has demonstrated a country at work for a better life, a country that is forging ahead steadily towards prosperity.

As we mark 20 years of freedom and democracy this year, we should remember that these opportunities came about because of freedom and democracy.

When we tell the good story of the achievements scored in the past 20 years, we also salute the South African youth as they contributed immensely to the struggle for liberation. 

Thousands of young people took on the apartheid state fearlessly and fought to bring about the free, just, equal, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa that we live in today.

It is through the selfless sacrifices of thousands of young people, workers and indeed ordinary men and women in our country, that we are able to say that we have a good story to tell.

We are able to say that South Africa is a much better place now than it was before the dawn of freedom.

We live in a peaceful, stable, successful and vibrant democracy which has achieved a lot in only 20 years of freedom.

We were able to put hatred and divisions behind us, and opted for reconciliation and nation building so that we could focus on rebuilding and reconstructing our country rather than retribution.

We created a new nation, a South Africa that belongs to all South Africans regardless of race, colour or creed.

Working with the people, including the youth, we have also invested successfully in achieving quality health care, water, sanitation, electricity, roads and housing.

This, the ANC government has done, so that our children, especially the black majority, can have a better future than their parents and grandparents.

In fact this very summit is intended to ensure that you, as young people growing up in the era of freedom and democracy, have a much better present and future than we did during our youth.

It is also intended to ensure that the socio-economic landscape in the country is conducive to youth development and economic emancipation. The signs are good, although much must still be done.

In the last five years alone, the economy regained the one million jobs lost as a result of the 2008 global economic crisis. Employment is now higher than it has ever been, with 15 million people being employed.

The proportion of adults with access to banking services grew from 60% in 2009 to 75% in 2013 which indicates a growing economy.

There are many other achievements for us to build on, focusing on child and youth development in particular.

At the level of Basic Education, more than eight million children now attend no-fee schools, with over 8 million receiving meals at school which improves their attention span and productivity.

There are currently more than eight hundred thousand children enrolled in Grade R, giving them a strong foundation for the future.

At the level of Higher Education, 12 percent of our population now hold a postgraduate qualification, up from 7 percent in 1996.

We also applaud young people for the manner in which they responded to the call to swell Further Education and Training Colleges which must produce thousands of artisans with the technical skills to run the economy.

Student enrolments at the colleges have increased by 90 percent. There are increases in enrolments at universities and universities of technology as well.

As you would be aware, we are  building twelve new FET campuses across the country - mostly in rural areas. We have also opened two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, another serious investment in youth development.

Financial Assistance offered to students through NSFAS also continues to go up given the increasing numbers of students going to tertiary institutions.

On the 14th of March, we will take our education investment further when we launch the new Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund, run by the NYDA. This is a 10-million rand fund designed to provide financial support to youth primarily in rural areas.

The NYDA also continues to run the successful National Senior Certificate Second Chance Matric Rewrite Programme to afford young people who have failed matric, a second chance to obtain their National Senior Certificate.

To date, more than eight thousand young people have been assisted to rewrite their matric. The results in 2013 were an impressive 77 percent pass rate.

Government is investing so much in education and skills development because these are the most powerful weapons that the youth will need to enable them to run the country's modern economy efficiently.

This investment in education is thus designed to prepare our youth for the second phase of freedom, that of meaningful economic emancipation.

We have to build an inclusive economy which creates jobs but more importantly an economy that reflects the demographics of the country.

Working with business, labour and the community sector, we have to change the ownership, control and management of the economy.

The ownership of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has changed only slightly since the dawn of freedom. But we welcome the fact that over 600 billion rand in black economic empowerment transactions have been recorded since 1995.

The percentage of Black people and women in senior management has increased from less than 10% in the 1990s to over 40% today.

The trend is in the right direction. However, we need faster change. And we need meaningful change.

To further advance Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment and affirmative action policies, we have amended the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment Act and the Employment Equity Act.

These should assist the country to diversify the ownership, control and management of the economy and open more opportunities for black people, women, the youth and persons with disability.

We meet with business and labour at NEDLAC to discuss these matters and will continue to do so, so that we move together in this transformation programme.

You need to remember as well the need to bridge the income inequality which was outlined by Census 2011.

For historical reasons, income distribution and growth is still racially skewed despite the progress made since 1994 to improve the standard of living of all, especially the poor and the working class. This indicates that the apartheid legacy is still looming large.

Census 2011 revealed that the income of the average white household remains six times that of the average African household.

As young people, you need to start thinking about your contribution to growing an inclusive economy, and to moving the country forward.

We have produced the National Development Plan which outlines the type of society we envisage, the type of society with an economy that is growing and which creates jobs.

It also outlines the type of South Africa that will have communities that have all the facilities that modern societies should have, from water and electricity to recreational facilities and other basic necessities.

It talks about residents who are fully involved in the running of their country and participate constructively as active citizens.

From this year, the policies of government will be guided by the NDP, as soon as we emerge from the elections and start a new government. We urge you to read the NDP and know it very well as you will help us to implement it in various ways.

Within the NDP are some instruments that we want you to know and understand very well as young people.

That is the Industrial Policy Action Plan and the New Growth Path.

We have spoken about the need to develop new industrialists. The industrial policy plan will prioritise that goal over the next five years. Ministers would have briefed you about funding mechanisms to enable you to start your own enterprises and industries.

But the Indaba has also heard that it is not all plain sailing.

You related some of the challenges that young people face to get the first experience of work or to find the first funding to become young entrepreneurs.

You raised your frustrations with some in the bureaucracy who do not seem to understand that their job is to be at your service as citizens of our country.

You shared with Ministers and Deputy Ministers other gaps and weaknesses in some of the delivery systems in education and in accessing funding for entrepreneurship.

I am pleased that the heads of our major funding agencies such as the IDC and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) were here to listen to your views.

In this past year, these two institutions have already approved funding of more than 160 million rand for young entrepreneurs.

They have homework to do now. They must also make it possible for every prospective young entrepreneur to know what funding is available, where it is available and what the requirements are to access the funding.

In addition, we want you to familiarise yourselves with the New Growth Path which outlines six job drivers. These are agriculture, tourism, the green economy, infrastructure development, manufacturing and mining. When considering careers or starting businesses we urge you to look into these sectors.

Infrastructure development is one of our high performance areas.

More than one trillion rand has been invested in national infrastructure projects.

Given the success of this programme, over the next five years we will forge ahead and prioritise the development of energy, public transport, information and communication technologies and water supply.

In our manufacturing sector, we will promote local procurement to increase domestic production and the creation of decent jobs.

This we shall do in part by directing the state to progressively buy at least 75% of its goods and services from South African producers.

The state must also actively support small enterprises, co-operatives and broad-based black economic empowerment. This will assist many youth-owned enterprises.

Young compatriots,

We know that the formal economy will not be able to grow fast enough to create the numbers of jobs we need, due to the global economic slowdown.

To alleviate unemployment further, government established the Expanded Public Works Programme in 2004.

Phase 2 of the EPWP was launched in April 2009 and has been very successful. 

Between April 2009 and September 2013, we have created 3,7 million work opportunities.

More importantly, the programme easily reached its target for women and youth, with 54 percent women and 50 percent of youth having benefitted from the programme.

We are happy too that more municipalities are implementing the EPWP.

To date, 277 out of 278 municipalities have signed protocol agreements, committing them to achieve their EPWP targets.

To build on this success, a target of six million work opportunities has been set over the five-year period from 2014 to 2019, many of which will be of a long duration and will benefit more young people.

Young compatriots,

As you have heard, we have a good story to tell in many areas. A lot has been done and is being done.

But the challenges still remain.

You must apply your minds in how you are going to contribute to building an inclusive economy that will create more opportunities for the youth and which will reflect the demographics of the country.

You cannot leave this responsibility to government and the private sector alone.

Compatriots

At a social development level, we wish to acknowledge your contribution to the remarkable achievement made by the country in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

South Africans are living longer and are healthier, mother to child transmission of HIV has dramatically decreased, more than 20 million people have taken the HIV test and the awareness levels are very high which helps to deal with the stigma. We urge you not to become complacent.

We must continue with our successful prevention, treatment as well as care and support programmes, and move towards the goal of zero new infections as set by the UNAIDS programme.

We also urge you to accelerate the fight against drug and substance abuse which are tearing some communities apart.

We need our young people to live healthy lifestyles free of these substances.
Fellow South Africans,

Youth development and empowerment is critical to the success of our democracy.

The Youth Employment Accord is our joint vision, our joint call to action. It is important that we are working together to implement it.

This inaugural Presidential Youth Indaba should not be the last time that we meet. 

In order to promote an on-going dialogue with the youth of the nation, I intend to convene at least once a year, a meeting of the new Presidential Youth Working Group.

In this meeting, we will discuss with Cabinet Ministers and youth leaders, the progress made in the implementation of the Accord, and what more we need to do.

Young compatriots,

I cannot conclude without congratulating you on the huge numbers of young people who have registered to vote on the 7th of May.

You have demonstrated your seriousness about building a truly non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous South Africa.

The future of our country definitely looks bright with such active youth participation in building a better South Africa.

Together, we shall move South Africa forward!

I Thank you.

Issued by the The Presidency, March 2 2014

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