YCLSA June 16 statement
15 June 2011 Remember June 16: Unity in Action of our Movement in Creating Jobs for Youth The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] joins millions of our people in celebrating 35th Anniversary of the Soweto uprising. On the 16th of June 1976 young people challenged the tyrant's might and dismissed a notion that the apartheid regime was invincible. Young people of our country demonstrated their outmost knack to fight for freedom and total emancipation of black people in general and Africans in particular. Today we are celebrating the heroic youth of 1976, the generation, which fought with everything in its power, for a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. These are young people who refused to be taught in the language of the oppressor, these are young people, who demanded more investment by the state in education. They demanded more teacher-student support material. They demanded to be taught by qualified teachers, but most importantly, they demanded a democratic South Africa. In their cause of fighting for a just society they faced the barrel of the guns with one determination: to have equal rights for all the people of South Africa irrespective of colour or creed. They laid down their lives so that today we live in a democratic country, for that we shall forever remain indebted to them, indebted to their sacrifices and most importantly indebted to their cause and the ideas they died for. Celebrating June 16 today affords us the opportunity to analyze the state of young people in our country as we continue to guide them towards a society free of exploitation of one man by another, a post-capitalist society in which the means of production are socially owned, democratically controlled and used for the benefit of all. State of the Youth Today Young people of our country continue to be in servitude of a brutal and inhumane capitalist system. In the discussion paper titled “confronting Youth unemployment: policy option for South Africa” the National Treasury observed that in South Africa about 4.1 million people are unemployed; one in four of those available to work do not have a job. About 2.8 million are long-term unemployed and a further 2.2 million are discouraged. South Africa’s unemployment rate of 24 per cent is among the highest in the world and rises to 32.4 per cent if discouraged workers are included. Despite making up just 0.5 per cent of the global labour force, South Africa accounts for 2 per cent of global unemployment. Capitalism has deliberately created an army of unemployed Youth: the total numbers of unemployed people in South Africa are young people constituting 70% and 80% of them are black youth. This reflects the crises of capitalist social relations and its determination to further push young people in the abyss of poverty, unemployment and inequality. Despite the efforts and policy interventions by our government, although we have remained critical of some of these, we remain convinced that it is the private sector whom in their question for profits have daily created this crises of unemployment. As the youth of ’76 fought to the bitter end and rendered apartheid ungovernable, our challenge is to fight the system of capitalism which has created all these socio-economic ills amongst our youth. As it relates to access to education more than 3 million young people between the ages of 14 to 25 are neither in an educational institution nor skills development centre. This is a serious indictment on the part of our government and the private sector. This year, we have seen more and more young people turning up to universities and FET Colleges but were turned back because there was no space for learning. If we managed to build stadiums, roads, shopping malls and even inaugurated Gautrain for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, there is no reason why our public and private works cannot build better and decent universities and colleges for our young people to study in. Furthermore, the closure by capitalists of training institutions which in the past produced artisans who were skilled in the economy is a further dent on the future of young people. We supported the workers and youth of Lephalale against the seniors of Medupi Power Station earlier in the month when they protested against the importing of welders and other artisans from Asia, instead of training locals. We will not hesitate to do the same in the current period to ensure that the private sector contributes towards Skills Development not only through funds but through practical action. On health status, young people are the most affected and infected by HIV and AIDS. As per HSRC, young woman affected with the HIV constitutes 32.7% between the ages of 25 and 29, and at 29.1% between 30 and 34. Further more about 15.7% of males aged 25 to 29 and 25.8% of females aged between 30 and 34 are affected. We remain committed to our conviction that the former President of the ANC and the Republic, Thabo Mbeki, together with many who served in that administration, remain responsible for their negligence in their denial of HIV/AIDS and the role of drugs. Today our country has to play catch-up in ensuring that we maintain a healthy nation and thus, the cost of such “curative” healthcare and anti-retrovirals remain a burden to our national fiscus. Something we should have stopped a long time ago. We applaud President Jacob Zuma and Minister Motsoaledi for their statesmanship and exemplary leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We call on all young people to abstain, or be faithful or condomise in order to deepen our fight against AIDS. We further call on them to ensure that they know their status in order to ensure that they change their lifestyle. Amongst other challenges that young people face include: · abuse of drugs and alcohol, · high levels of crime, · corruption, · lack of proper co-ordination between rural and urban development (which have led to amongst, other things, emergence of informal settlements despite government building 3.1 million houses against 3 million housing backlog in the 1994 RDP estimate) lack of amenities in black townships, such as sport facilities, and · teenage pregnancy and backyard abortion, Although there are young people who, given their social location and position in society, may not be affected by this and may regard them as non-existant, the majority of our youth remain victims and will forever be desolate of the democratic system. All of these challenges have resulted in many young people losing confidence in the democratic state and the capitalist system to be able to change their lives for the better. The political system, democratic institutions and the constitution that the many liberals defends will forever remain under threat from our youth, especially working class youth, if they are unable to change the status quo. Youth unemployment, poverty and inequality is the biggest threat in our democracy For us as the YCL, whilst we note all the challenges confronting young people, which must be addressed, of the most painful and dangerous challenge is Youth unemployment. The employment of young people will provide them with the opportunity to contribute productively in the economy. It is a waste for our country to continue having a large army of economically active people excluded from the production point. Employment will give the youth a chance to earn income, it will provide a sense of belonging, independence, dignity, achievement, innovation, skills and experience. Unemployment is also associated with most social-ills such as · poverty, · crime, · prostitution, · a violent society, · a loss of morale, · teenage and youth suicide, · social degradation and political disengagement (Kingdon & Knight, 2000; Levinsohn, 2008). Whilst there has been many interventions by the government, including a National Youth Development Agency and the 9bn Jobs Fund, many of these remain a far-fetched dream as the institutions and funds are seemingly, given the economic trajectory, more about individual-accumulation rather than creation of youth employment. It is our long held view that the NYDA should do more than it has to support youth initiatives targeting employment creation, entrepreneurial development and the creation of youth co-operatives. We challenge the NYDA to quantify its contribution towards youth employment. We also believe that at the core of joblessness, inequality and poverty lies the failure of our import-dependent, export-oriented economy. The sooner we change the economic growth path and the ownership of the means of production, the more young people will realise the fruits of the freedom their fore-fathers struggled for. Central to this remain the a conscious policy interventions that will lead to workers share of the national income by curbing company bosses huge bonuses and the imposition of a living wage. It further should include the change in the labour laws of our country to ‘outlaw labour brokers.’ We have to also ensure that the monopoly cartels created in various sectors of the economy, together with the destruction of small enterprises through the building of commercial malls not linked to any developmental path, comes to an end. We need a Militant and Radical Youth Leadership for Social Transformation As we celebrate the 35th Anniversary of June 16, youth formations from across the political spectrum have the responsibility to mobilise a radical and militant youth front against all of these social ills identified above. We need unity in action for a better and prospering society for all the youth of our country; Black, Indian, Coloured and White. The future of our country belongs to all the youth who live in it irrespective of their colour. This unity will never be built through fracturing or dividing young people on the basis of who they are and what their colour is. Youth formations, especially within the national progressive fold, have the responsibility of championing the historical mandate of the ANC and the Alliance, that of transforming our society from non-racism, non-sexism and the building of a democratic society. We hold, as the PYA, the responsibility of ensuring that the youth are “liberated from economic and political” bondage, especially those who were historically oppressed. This means that unity amongst the PYA structures based on the above programme will remain forever critical. We will forever as the YCL strive for this ideal of unity in action, realising that counter-revolution can only thrive through championing divisions. We further iterate the fact that being radical and militant does not mean absconding from the responsibility of leadership we hold. We cannot through our actions achieve the goals which were intended by those who killed Chris Hani or sought to incite a civil and racial war in the early days of our democracy. Being militant and radical means raising and acting sharply on issues of education, healthcare, joblessness, class exploitation, racism, the killing of gays and lesbians and the many other challenges confronting the transformation of our society. Being militant and radical can never mean we should dance to the same tune as sang by Steve Hofmeyer, that of perpetual racial divisions, gender and class exploitation. We must be against everything that he represents in order to conclude the historical objectives as set by our forefathers. As we celebrate the heroic struggle of the 1976 generation, let us defeat the ‘animal farm leadership’. These king masters of crass materialism had been turned into front page superstars by media and projected as king-makers instead of becoming young revolutionaries fighting for the realization of the non racial, non sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. Defend the Alliance, Deepen the National Democratic Revolution Part of the major challenges the youth of today face includes the defense of the alliance and the national liberation movement. This is an important task that the generation of 2011 face as this remains the only organisational institutions that will deepened and defend the National Democratic Revolution. To have reduced our organisations as platforms for fighting for positions rather than as organs to change our society and the lives of our people must be contested and fought at every inch. To see the end of Conferences or Congresses as the beginning for preparation for the next Conference or Congress just so that we have positions in contrary to the traditions cadres such as MaSisulu fought for. To use positions we have been elected into in order to fight against the historical mandate of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society must come to an end. To manipulate our people and members of our organisations for elections, and even to offer them money for votes, when all our intentions are to have access to state resources through control of tenders, will be a betrayal of the youth of ’76. To judge the leadership of our alliance on the basis of what tender or what position they gave to us is to sell the movement to the highest bidder and a delusion of our youth and our people. Conclusion To honor the sacrifices of the 1976 generation, we must intensify our struggle against capitalist greed and fight for a socialist state. As we have already noted in the last National Congress of YCLSA, at the heart of smashing capitalism and capitalist social relations is the struggle for altering the capitalist accumulation regime. This is the line between the struggle for capitalism and socialism. One of the greatest fault-lines in the post-apartheid capitalist path is the perpetuation of class and racial inequalities in the economy. The slums still belongs to the blacks and suburbs to the whites (with a sprinkle of blacks). This must be challenge; as black political accumulators to further divide our people along racial lines, while they also live in uptown areas through ill-gotten opulence have used it. Let us celebrate June 16 through a mass-driven, state-led programme for radical transformation of our economy and society. Socialism in our lifetime Issued by YCLSA 1-5 Leyds Street, Braamfontein COSATU House For more information, please contact Mafika Mndebele (National Spokesperson) Landline: (011) 339 3621 Cellphone: 073 574 5953 Cellphone: 082 567 3557 Email: [email protected] -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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