Four decades on, is the legacy of the 1976 uprising a mere political tool?

Every year somewhere around 16 June, Parliament hosts a special Youth Day debate. It’s part of the tradition of hosting special sittings linked to various public holidays, including Women’s Day. This year the second parliamentary term was cut short (usually it ends towards the end of June) so MPs could electioneer for the 3 August municipal poll in an 11-week spell officially called the “constituency period”. It’s back to Parliament for MPs from 15 August, according to the latest available programme.

But Youth Day 2016 is too important not to do something. So Parliament said it had asked the Gauteng legislature to host an event “aimed at creating a platform for dialogue between the youth and organs of state”. It is scheduled from 29 to 30 June.

“It is also aimed at encouraging the youth to participate in the sector’s programmes and to enable them to influence legislation relevant to their current needs,” said the national legislature’s statement issued on Tuesday (the dateline is “Parliament, Wednesday 13 June 2016”). “Parliament believes that a collaborative approach by all legislatures in creating platforms for engaging the youth will assist with co-ordinated messaging and further create an integrated and unified approach of processing resolutions and recommendations.”

With dialogues at this event, the national legislature wants to deepen democracy and inter-generational unity, strengthen the Constitution by “cementing sectoral events as platforms for public participation”, and locate “Parliament and provincial legislatures at the epicentre of societal deliberations”. It also said it hopes to achieve “meaningful participation by the youth of 1976 that can mentor the youth of today”.

There was more detail on Parliament’s official Twitter account @ParliamentRSA on Friday. It was announced that the venue would be “the University of Johannesburg, south campus”, as was availability of “interpretation and sign language services” and the theme of #YD40thAnniversary: “Partnering with our youth for improved local governance: the years past and the years ahead”.

On Wednesday, Parliament’s spokesman Luzuko Jacobs said details were still being settled. “The plans are still being fine-tuned and once they are finalised, Parliament will provide details on the budget,” he said. “This event is done with the active participation of the provincial legislatures in planning and implementation. The intention is to use existing plans for the project from Parliament and provinces as these institutions already have plans to celebrate and commemorate the youth month.”

Guests aside from MPs and MPLs, Jacobs said, would include “1976 veterans”, “councillors”, “leaders of youth leagues of political parties”, “various youth formations”, “unemployed youth”, “youth in business”, “youth in inter-faith”, “government youth agencies” (presumably also the National Youth Development Agency or NYDA, whose new board Parliament has yet to nominate for appointment three months after the term of the last board expired).

But various political parties at Parliament said they still have to be informed of this Youth Day 40^th anniversary event. Yes, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete had mentioned this in passing a couple of weeks ago, said one MP, but details had yet to be forthcoming. Parliamentary staff appeared to be in the dark as to whether they would be seconded for the event.

IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa said that by chance he was informed that one IFP youth brigade member would be part of the 10-stong delegation sent to the event through the KwaZulu-Natal legislature. There would be seven ANC representatives, one from the DA and another.

The IFP at Parliament was not aware of any invitations to the party or any of its MPs for the event. Nor was the ANC at Parliament.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) Chief Whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said no invitation had yet dropped into their offices. “It goes without saying, the ANC is afraid of losing that metro (Johannesburg), and decided to use state resources to shore up support,” he said. “They are grasping at straws.”

Ahead of a key Nelson Mandela Bay Metro by-election in Ward 30 in August last year, Kwankwa pointed out, the ANC had held prayer meetings for an end to the drought.

DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen also indicated that there had been no information, but added that as Youth Day was very important, the party would hold a series of related events around the country. On the Parliament event in Johannesburg, Steenhuisen said: “It’s going to be an ANC jamboree before elections, using public money to promote a political agenda”.

Starting by saying Mbete and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Chairwoman Thandi Modise, “on behalf of Parliament join the nation and international community” in commemorating the 40^th anniversary of 16 June 1976, the national legislature’s statement ends, “Parliament calls on the youth, who are registered to vote in the upcoming local government elections on 3 August 2016, to come out in numbers to participate in the democratic process of elections and claim their stake in the future of the country”. DM

Photo: South-African Parliament building with Louis Botha statue, Cape Town. Photo by Kotivalo via Wikimedia Commons.