15 JUNE 2011
STATEMENT BY EXECUTIVE MAYOR PATRICIA DE LILLE TO
COMMEMORATE YOUTH DAY – 16 JUNE
As Youth Day approaches, we need to take stock of the sacrifices people
made so that all of our people, especially the youth, could experience the
freedom that we enjoy today. Those sacrifices have been brought into
sharp focus by the recent death of Ma Sisulu.
She lived her life for others and we honour her. However, many people
paid the ultimate price for our freedom in the prime of their lives.
This Youth Day, we commemorate those who died resisting the
oppressive forces of the Apartheid regime in 1976. They died so that
others might live in freedom.
This day is always important, but it is made more so in 2011. This year
marks 35 years since the tragic events of the Soweto Uprising, when
young people decided to take the future into their own hands, no matter
what the cost.
We honour them for the choice that they made. Their sacrifice made it
possible for people that they would never know to lead better lives.
Commemoration should always have this reflection, this pause for the
memory of those that we lost. But it must also honour them by making
sure that their sacrifice was not in vain.
In order to do that, we must ensure that we create opportunities for our
youth. We must build a city in which they can thrive, where their
possibilities are real and as great as their ambition.
We cannot speak of a society that honours the place of our youth if we do
not do everything that we can to make sure that they are included, both
socially and economically.
The divisions that see the concerns of youth as somehow separate from
the concerns of our city as a whole are artificial. The youth’s future is the
City of Cape Town’s future.
We must work hard to create the economic environment in which
opportunity can thrive and jobs can grow. By being employed, our young
people will have dignity as fully-contributing members of our city. We
must welcome the contributions of our youth with open arms.
This Youth Day, let us acknowledge that we must not only focus on the
youth one day in the year. Instead, let’s keep their interests at the centre
of our city’s future development plans so that we all move forward
together as a united city.