July 9, 2015: Source Busisiwe Kahla via iDT facebook wall.

 

MUST WE KEEP QUIET AND PRETEND THAT ALL IS WELL?

 

The leadership of the ANCYL in KhayaMabece branch, Ward-41 in Buffalo City Metro Region set down today (6 April 2015) and did a proper diagnosis of what it sees as the major social diseases of its terrain Zwelitsha that engulf it daily to a point of no return.

Firstly we have observed that the township is under serious urban decay.Its social infrastructure has ceased to be necessary in sight and use. Places of sports and recreation like the cricket field in Zone-6, the tennis court and its rondavels have all degenerated and had been molested and looted to a point of scrapeyard equivallence. Old buildings and previously unoccupied land have all been handed over to religious bodies that continue giving nothing in return when it comes to improving the standard of living of our people.

 

Zwelitsha remains the undisputed champion of a youth that has an uncontrolable lust for alcohol consumption and drug abuse. We differ with those that see this problem as starting and ending with the youth as sole cause of it. Others even go to the extent of comparing this youth with their generation in a quest to navigate who had better morals than the other as if historical episodes are isolated from our struggle today.

 

We dismiss all of that with the discontent that it deserves for we know that the state of our youth's uncontrollable lust for beverages and drugs is a direct consequence of the socio-economic frustrations facing them in society. The state in conjuction with taverns does not assist in rescuing the situation for it allows these places to operate 24/7at the gain of profit and the loss of youth development despite trade licences issued by the state not allowing so. We view this matter on a very serious light and it is urgent.We are still shocked and taken aback by the absence of a library and a community computer lab in Zwelitsha.Education and Zwelitsha, as history admits, cannot be seperated from each other. There is no chapter in the lifeblood of Zwelitsha that can unfold without coming across this strategic terrain of power called education. With so many pre-schools, primary schools,high schools and an institution of higher learning - it is an insult that there is no learning taking place in an environment of a fully fledged modern library after 3pm when these centres of learning close.

 

We are not asking for the library merely on the basis of counting schools numerically, we are calling for it also because it is a community need for learning and reading must be a culture practiced by members of the community likewise whom are expected to be parents to this youth going to school. A culture of learning and computer literacy must be the lifeblood of Zwelitsha. History is passing serious judgement in this regard.

 

The ANCYL is puzzled about how ignorant the state is about youth employment here and how shallow and outdated its ideas are. For an example,offices are the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) which is a very critical body of dealing with youth unemployment through entrepreneurship doesnt have offices here. A place where it is needed the most. NYDA is also key in the sense that it also offers opportunities for youth that failed matric to rewrite such examinations with proper teaching and infrastructure available for such learners for free. NYDA also offers countless bursaries and scholarships for direct entry to institutions of higher learning. These are highly needed in Zwelitsha and would also prevent our youth from rewriting matric and enrolling in these illegal and bogus colleges operating in dark corners.

 

Budgets of ward-41 must be direct and speak specifically to youth employment in mass scales. We call for the end of millions in state resources being used on tenderpreneurs to build fences on the graveyard and laminate parking lots of a community hall. The budget must be challened to proper development projects like sports, social infrastructure rebuilding, education and employment. All these will be achieved with a mobilized and a militant youth under the banner of the ANCYL. The first and last line of defence of the struggle for economic freedom in our lifetime.

 

We will not rest and pretend as though all is fine! The youth hour has struck.

 

Issued by:
ANCYL BEC
KHAYA MABECE BRANCH
WARD41
ZWELITSHA