WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2005-06-15 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
WITH a 60% youth unemployment rate in SA, there is fertile ground for political mobilisation among young people.
Other issues affecting the youth include access to quality education, HIV/AIDS and violence.
Yet many political youth organisations are unable to provide a platform for the aspirations of young people, despite the role the youth has historically played in bringing about social change in SA.
The reasons for this are varied, political analysts say.
Ebrahiem Fakier, a researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies, says there is a dearth of strategic and tactical leadership among young political leaders.
“They don”t see the interdependence of issues of concern to youth such as the economy, work, entrepreneurship and skills development,” he says.
Leaders use youth organisations to launch their careers in their political parties instead of championing the causes of the youth, Fakier says.
The relaunch of the Young Communist League (YCL) in 2003 posed a direct challenge to the dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League, which is the traditional vehicle through which future leaders of the ANC-led alliance have been catapulted onto the national political stage.
The formation of the YCL was about the “battle for ideas” in the alliance as the influence of the emerging black middle class grew within the ANC and the party embraced market economics.
“The YCL presents an alternative to a society which makes youth vulnerable to corruption. There is a mindset that says it”s okay to make a quick buck and drive a flashy car,” says league secretary Buti Manamela.
“We want to provide an alternative so that young people are not vulnerable to crime because they fall into the trap of wanting to get rich quick.”
Judith February, a political analyst at the Institute for Democracy in SA, says the challenge for the YCL is to make politics relevant for young people.
“Young people are often disillusioned with formal political structures, this is clearly illustrated by their low turnout at the polls in the last election,” she says.
February says political organisations” narrow agendas are a deterrent to young people, who are concerned about finding a decent job and a proper education.
She believes the rhetoric of the YCL must be backed by action if it wants to attract young people.
“The problem with the YCL is that it has very little mass appeal. It cannot draw young people,” she says.
“Given the old adage that you cannot win at the negotiating table what you cannot back up on the ground, it remains unlikely that the YCL will be more than a small pressure group.”
But Manamela says that the YCL is the fastest-growing political youth formation in the country.
“We have a paid up membership of more than 20 000 with 300 hundred branches in all provinces,” he says. “We have YCL leaders who are directors in government departments. Our members also include young workers who form part of our units at factories.”
The YCL has slammed the current model of black economic empowerment, saying it has created an “elite”.
Manamela says the current empowerment model is based on patronage, where companies enter into suspect relationships with youth formations to boost their scorecards demanded by the empowerment charters.
The YCL argues for youth co-operatives that seek to empower and transfer skills to groups rather than individuals.
Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200506150292.htm…/p>