Celebrating Youth Month by empowering young people

The year 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the June 16 Soweto and other related uprisings. The Soweto uprising ended tragically, with hundreds of young people brutally killed. This tragedy became a rallying point that inspired a nation and its people to rise up against the brutal apartheid system.

Following the advent of democracy in 1994, the new democratic government declared June 16 as National Youth Day and June as Youth Month. 

This year, National Youth Day and Youth Month were celebrated under the theme ‘Youth moving South Africa forward’. The theme is a call for action by a broad range of social partners who, in tandem with government, are moving South Africa forward.

It also recognises the role the youth of South Africa have played and are still playing in moving the country forward. This year, Youth Month also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution. 

The commemoration of Youth Month and Youth Day are opportunities to take stock of the strides we have made and a reminder of the challenges that still remain.

The Youth Office of uThukela District Municipality held a Youth Month event called ‘Youth Day Career Expo’ held at Ezakheni TVET. The event was attended by more than 3000 youths from various societies around the district (schools, churches, communities, NGOs, young entrepreneurs, sportsmen, artists, etc). The event mostly targeted youth from disadvantaged areas. 

“We like to celebrate Youth Month while also changing the lives of young people,” say uThukela. 

The event was divided into two sessions. In the morning session, there was a creative writing launch, career guidance, exhibitions and presentations by different stakeholders. The second session consisted of ‘Commissions’ where youth discussed social ills, economic development and education, etc. 

The youth turned up in numbers to attend the event that aimed to educate them about choosing the right career path to success. Young people advised each other about the importance of education, with the focus mainly on life as a journey towards finding a purpose. The youth were therefore encouraged to assist each other towards realising their dreams and achieving success in life. 

Explaining the objectives of the event, uThukela District Exco member Cllr AS Mazibuko highlighted the fact that this programme was mainly to educate the youth about their history and the role played by young people in the struggle against apartheid 40 years ago. Cllr Mazibuko said he is concerned about the high rate of HIV infections, especially among young girls between the age of 15 and 24. He reminded all present about the youth of 1976, and how they fought for our democracy and better education today. 

“Today we commemorate the 40th anniversary of June 16. We commemorate these landmarks in our history not because they were happy events, but we do so because they represent turning points in the struggle for freedom and democracy. Today our youngsters have the freedom to choose whichever career path they want to embark on.

They can choose whichever language they want to speak because of the sacrifices made by our fallen heroes who fought tooth and nail for freedom,” said Cllr Mazibuko. 

He continued to say that government is committed to ensuring that programmes on skills and youth development are accessed by young people throughout all corners of this district, starting from early childhood development.

There has been a strong focus on scarce skills such as engineering, science and technology, accounting, information technology, agriculture, health and social services. 

“Over the past five years, the district municipality has spent more on bursaries awarded to disadvantaged students. The accumulative number of students who have benefited from the bursary programme over the past five years is significant,” added Cllr Mazibuko.

He also reminded the youth not to wait for someone to hire them, but that they need to create job opportunities as well. A take-home message from him was “use your success to change the world”. 

Mrs Majola from the Department of Social Development applauded uThukela District Municipality for the great educational programme. “Re-orientation is needed in the manner in which we talk about HIV/Aids. A need to capacitate other stakeholders is what will make a difference. We need our youth alive and well because they are our future,” she said.

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