Statement on Western Cape Youth Parliament

12 June 2012

The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] in the Western Cape is extremely disturbed and outraged at the manner in which the Western Cape government has organized the provincial youth parliament. The Youth Parliament is one of the symbolic and integral activities which commemorate the sacrifices that young people made for the attainment for our freedom. It is a platform where young people from all sectors of society come together to discuss their challenges and take resolutions on how to address their challenges. It further enhances unity and cohesion among young of different race, culture, creed etc.

We are not surprised but deeply perturbed that the DA in the Western Cape chose to ignore all the principles, values and intentions of this noble event, but instead used it to advance its narrow, white minority political agenda. It has invited only a group of Alumni and the current students of Chrysalis Academy. They have failed to recognise and invite youth structures such as the Provincial Youth Council. We believe that the participants do not even represent a quarter of the youth in this province, and prejudiced many other various organizations in the province.

We request the South African Youth Council in the Western Cape to lead us in this struggle, to ensure that we have a proper Youth Parliament with representatives from various structures of youth formations.

We want to tell the DA led government in this Province that there will be no representatives to the National Youth Parliament that will speak on our behalf making recommendations on matters that we were not given an opportunity to partake on. We also want to warn the National Parliament that failure to reason with us on this matter will result into serious challenges of continuously being undermined by the minority group of the DA.

We were once called Refugees in our own home soil by Zille and again we are insulted as young people by the DA, discussing youth issues that interests us as young people only with the few, sidelining the other important sectors of our youth. They denied young people an opportunity to share the stage with those from the Academy so as to understand each other. Furthermore, to provide workable solutions on how to fight drugs and alcohol abuse in developing an attitude of making Education Fashionable but in the main fight for potential companies to create work placement for skilled youth.

We want a Youth Parliament that will enable us to discuss issues such as the youth wage subsidy as supported by the DA so that the country can hear the views of young people in the province than those of the few misled by the DA with an intention to defend Labour Brokers and the use of tender processes to milk the State.

Issued by YCLSA Western Cape

For information contact:

Cde Disang Mocumi

Provincial Spokesperson

072 677 5940