President of Cosatu Sdumo Dlamini speech at YCL Celebration21 - 06 - 08 |
Speech by COSATU President Sdumo Dlamini on the Occasion of YCL Youth Day Celebrations
Durban, Kwa ZuluNatal, 21 June 2008
Comrades
Let me first express my heartfelt gratitude for the invitation to speak on this important occasion. I should also hasten to pass on the regards of the COSATU Central Executive Committee, the National Office Bearers, and the membership of the Federation. We join you in marking this important event in the calendar of our history.
It is now trite to observe that June 16 1976 changed the history of this country for the better. On that fateful day, the youth of our country unleashed an unstoppable historic momentum that heralded the new dispensation in South Africa. We pay homage to the June 16 generation, the generation that came before and after that historic day. Today’s celebrations are an important reminder of where we come from as a people and a movement. It is our duty to keep the memory of the struggle alive, more so when a lot is being taken for granted.
Today also reminds us to cherish, nurture and support our youth for without them we do not deserve our future. Comrade Oliver Tambo once remarked that a nation that does not cherish its youth does not deserve its future. We remind ourselves of these words of wisdom not to dwell on the past but to highlight challenges facing us in the current epoch of the revolution. As a movement we can do more to challenge young people to play an active role in the unfolding process of transformation. Youth development is our only guarantee that the revolution will be in safe hands. For that reason all the formations of the movement should take this task much more seriously than we have done to date.
The youth day celebration comes at an important juncture of our national democratic revolution. It goes without saying that we should properly reflect on the achievements and challenges of our revolution. It is now fifteen years since the democratic breakthrough. The youth of ‘76 and generations of activists fought for the realization of the vision of the Freedom Charter for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa. As we march resolutely forward we must always ask ourselves how far we have gone to realize this vision of an inclusive and egalitarian society. We must measure ourselves not so much by the distance we have travelled from our troubled past, important as that may be, but by the yardstick of how far are we from realizing the goals of the Charter.
There is no doubt that South Africa is a better place than before, yet there is no guarantee that tomorrow will be better than today, unless we confront the challenges facing us. The promise of an inclusive, democratic and egalitarian society is still far from realized. The racial, class and gender cleavages of our oppression continue to define the social and economic landscape of South Africa. Wealth is still in the hands of a white minority and the black working class has been battered by the forces of economic liberalisation. Today, inequality, especially income inequality between Africans, is rising, while an elite few is benefiting from the process of change.
Of course the situation could be worse, had it not been for the intervention of the democratic government to extend basic services to the poor. We acknowledge the important strides made by our movement and government to address the historical grievances of our people. However we should not rest on past laurels as our society is experiencing difficult and seemingly intractable problems.
It is against this background that we should read the outcome of Polokwane and the conferences of the various formations of the democratic movement, not least the COSATU 9th national Congress. Our people are impatient for change, especially in the context of an elite which is amassing wealth and opportunities. The leadership has been given a tough mandate and the burden of expectation on our shoulders is high.
Correctly, our people demand that the movement that they have trusted for so long, and entrusted with government power for the last fifteen years, should do more to change their material conditions. Otherwise the democratic victory would amount to a hollow victory and all we would have achieved is to replace a white with a black government. It is in this regard that we in COSATU believe that the second decade of freedom should bring tangible changes in the lives of the downtrodden.
This has been a tough year for our people. We have been confronted by a slew of bad news on the economic front. Not only has economic growth slowed down, we are buffeted by high food, fuel and energy prices. As if that was not enough, the Reserve Bank has added salt to the wound by increasing interest rates – a futile exercise since it does not address the source of high inflation. For the unemployed the prospect of finding employment is dimmer than before. For the poor the prospect of decent life seems elusive. The nation’s confidence has further been shattered by power cuts and recent xenophobic attacks against our brothers and sisters from other African countries.
In this context the temptation for despair and despondency is very high. But as every union organizer will tell you – don’t agonise, organize! It is only through collective effort that we can pull through this quagmire. Retreating into defeatist, cynical and fatalistic reading of the situation will lead us to a dead end. We believe in the future of this country and are committed to make it better.
However making South Africa better is a matter of choosing correct policies and assiduously implementing the plan of action. Will or hope alone is not enough to confront the challenges facing us. Burying our heads in the sands is an option left to the arm-chair revolutionaries – it is a luxury we cannot afford.
Against this background, we need a PLAN to translate the aspirations of our people expressed in Polokwane and other forums into real action. We cannot wait for the elections - our people demand answers now! We are called upon as the alliance to unveil a Plan as to how we will respond to the daunting tasks of creating a better life for all! While our people understand that Rome was not built in one day, their patience is not endless. One day they will rudely remove us from power; we must remember we serve at their behest.
We must go back to organize in our communities because it is through mobilization that people become actors in the stage of revolution. Without organization, despair, disillusionment and disgruntlement will creep in. This creates fertile ground, as we have seen recently with the xenophobic attacks, for reactionary forces to take advantage of the situation.
The key message that I want to leave with you today comrades is that we must mobilize, organize and educate. Further, we need a Plan to take forward the transformation of our society.
On behalf of COSATU I wish you success in all your work and pledge our unwavering support to the cause of organizing young people. Equally we expect from you to encourage your members to belong to COSATU unions in the workplace. We must rebuild the workers-student-and youth alliance of the 1980s. We must rebuild the all-round cadres of the movement of the 1980s.
I thank you.
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets
Braamfontein, 2017
P.O. Box 1019
Johannesburg, 2000
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24
Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667
Cell: 0828217456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.