The Star E-dition

‘Today’s youth face enormous challenges’

SIHLE MAVUSO, TARRYN-LEIGH SOLOMONS AND ZINTLE MAHLATI

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa says the country’s youth are still facing challenges despite living in conditions better than those of their parents and grandparents because of the sacrifices made by the youth of 1976.

Ramaphosa made these remarks yesterday while delivering his address at this year’s Youth Day celebrations in Pietermaritzburg.

With Covid-19 restrictions in effect, Ramaphosa did not travel to Pietermaritzburg, but delivered the address virtually.

June 16 became a holiday after 1994 when the country gained its freedom from the apartheid government.

“On this day 45 years ago, brave young women and men in Soweto and other parts of our country rose up against injustice. Unarmed, and in their school uniforms, they came out in their numbers, shouting ‘down with Afrikaans’. They were taking a stand against a cruel and unjust system. They were rebelling against Bantu Education, which, despite its name, was no education at all. It was another tool of the apartheid system to keep black South Africans in servitude,” Ramaphosa said.

Full of praise for the youth of 1976 which included Hector Pieterson, Sibongile Mkhabela, Seth Mazibuko and Tsietsi Mashinini, Ramaphosa said they ignited a fire of resistance that even the apartheid government could not extinguish.

“The young South Africans of 1976 spurred an international movement for the isolation of the apartheid regime. They lit a fire of resistance that the racist government of Pretoria would not extinguish, no matter how hard they tried.

“When many of our leaders were jailed or exiled, it was young people who showed the world that freedom is not given, but it is taken. We salute them. We owe our liberation to them, and to the many others who sacrificed so we could all be free today,” he said.

Speaking on the issues of today’s youth, Ramaphosa maintained that they had better opportunities than their parents and grandparents, but admitted that they faced enormous challenges on their path to economic emancipation, with unemployment being a major hindrance.

He said the country’s economy had been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that there were efforts to revive the economy and young people would be at the centre stage.

“It is the singular focus of this administration to ensure that young people are given access to opportunities so they can better themselves,” he said.

Ramaphosa mentioned a range of initiatives undertaken by the government to ensure that young people were economically empowered and these included online platform SAYouth.mobi which easily avails information at no cost to young people.

Elsewhere, EFF leader Julius Malema said his party would hold a protest outside the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority’s (Sahpra) office next week to demand the approval of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

The EFF held its Youth Day commemoration event outside Hoërskool Uitsig in Centurion in Tshwane.

Malema tore into Ramaphosa during his speech, calling him responsible for the country’s poor handling of the pandemic and the vaccine roll-out strategy.

The red berets have been calling for schools to be closed until Covid-19 cases were under control.

Malema reiterated this call, saying if anyone died from the virus now, it should be blamed on Ramaphosa.

“Every coronavirus death must be blamed on Cyril Ramaphosa. All those deaths must be put on the doorstep of Ramaphosa,” Malema said.

The EFF wants the addition of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine and Chinese-manufactured Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. Sahpra says it is still reviewing the approval of the Sputnik vaccine.

On the other hand, DA Youth Western Cape Metro Regional chairperson, Tami Jackson, called on the youth to be more intentional about their existence and participation in the country’s democracy.

Jackson said it had become clear that more and more young South Africans did not know why Youth Day was celebrated. In her speech she also said the battle against an oppressive government continued.

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2021-06-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/281500754204145

African News Agency