Following in the wake of the controversial but highly successful 2012 campaign that  featured an embracing interracial couple and the tagline ‘In our future you wouldn’t look twice’, this year DASO set out to further expand the organisation’s vision for the future.

The 2013 poster will go up on over 30 tertiary institution campuses around South Africa. The posters feature actual DA Youth and DASO leaders posing with signs describing real prejudices they have faced. Labels such as ‘coconut’, ‘moffie’ and ‘terrorist’. The posters assert that ‘others see labels, we see a future’.

I myself have been labeled a ‘coconut’ many times by others. These are still very real prejudices faced by South Africans from all walks of life, and in highlighting them, DASO wants to reaffirm that it is only in learning to truly accept our fellow South Africans as individuals that we will be able to become the kind of free and tolerant society the Democratic Alliance envisions.

In making this statement DASO also wants to demonstrate that the DA is a vibrant home for individuals from all walks of life, a home where prejudice has no place and where there is a real opportunity for young leaders to manifest the change they wish to see in South Africa.

Follow the Twitter conversation via #DASO2013 or on www.facebook.com/democraticallianceyouth.

Media enquiries:

Mbali Ntuli
Federal DA Youth Chair
072 118 8556

Fellow Democrats,

Welcome to the year 2013. In the early 2000s Metro FM ran a campaign titled ‘What Makes you Black?’ It went something like, “What makes you black? Is it the colour of your skin? Your eyes? The shape of your nose? Your hair? Is it where you live? Or is it your soul?” As the DA and the DA Youth grows, similar important questions need to be asked. Questions like, ‘What makes you ‘DA’?’ and ‘What makes us different from the ANC?’ The answers to these fundamental questions is what will set us on a course to govern South Africa well.

So what indeed does make one truly ‘DA’? Is it wearing our t-shirt? Is it understanding our principles or being able to recite our vision? Is it being elected into office to represent the party? Or is it something more intangible? Wearing a blue t-shirt does not necessarily make one ‘DA’.

I have encountered people who wear our t-shirts at gatherings of the party, only to take them off as soon as the ‘leadership’ disappears. Some even collect the t-shirts of numerous political parties, interchanging them based on who they think they can get the most out of on any particular day.

Then there are those who know and can recite our principles and vision, but when no one is looking, they go on the offensive against the very same principles they were earlier reciting. There are students who have researched the DA, who know and understand our vision and values in detail. Should we now say they are ‘DA’? I say no.

There are also individuals that are elected to lead structures of the DA or to take up public office. We can’t say someone is ‘DA’ by virtue of being elected into office. I have served with people who jumped ship when they were not elected back into office for a second term, hurling insults at the DA and its leadership. Surely that kind of a person was never ‘DA’ to begin with?

So, if wearing a DA T-shirt, knowing the party’s principles or representing the DA in public office does not make one ‘DA’, then what in fact does? I assert that being ‘DA’ is a way of life, it reveals itself not in what we say, but in how we say it, in how we choose to treat and engage with others in the world around us.

Being truly ‘DA’ means listening to others and fiercely defending their right to express themselves, even if we disagree with them. It is putting the mission to realize and open opportunity society for all ahead of our own personal political aspirations, and about doing what is right for the party before doing what is right for ourselves, even if this means sacrificing at times.

Being ‘DA’ is about encouraging robust, critical debate that centers on the issues at hand and not the politics of personality. It is about way more than wearing the t-shirt, going to the events, serving in office or knowing liberal theory backwards. It is, above all else, being prepared to put all of your energies into supporting the drive to realize an open opportunity society for all. It is about sacrifice and hard work and about doing what is right, even if it is unpopular.

South Africans will not trust us if we behave like some members of the ANC who believe in speaking ill of the party, its leaders and members on social media. Truth be told, we have people who joined the DA because the queue to the pot in the ANC is too long, only to find out that there is no queue in the DA because there is no pot. These people are not ‘DA’ and never will be, try as they might to memorize our principles and deck themselves out in blue.

If one wears a blue t-shirt but aspires to the life of a tendepreneur, or if you sign up to the party with the sole hope of securing a job, you will never be ‘DA’ and you will never have a home in our party.

The DA and the ANC are very different, but South Africans will not see this difference by simply studying and comparing our policies, they will see it in how we as ‘DA’ people behave and conduct ourselves, both in public and private.

They will see the difference by each and every one of our members behaving, breathing and living the ‘DA’ way.

Regards, Makashule Gana

DA Youth Federal Leader

The 90% increase in residence fees is unacceptable as most of the students are from poor family backgrounds.

DASO also objects to the shocking living conditions of the students. Four students cannot be expected to share a room, which has been originally created for two students.

DASO is further outraged that students have been instructed to vacate the residences by 5 pm this evening. This is unacceptable, considering that some of these students are international students with nowhere else to go.

At my request, the DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Annelie Lotriet has asked the Director General to contact the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Mvuyo Tom as a matter of urgency to intervene in the matter.

DASO will also be circulating a petition, in an effort to get Dr. Blade Nzimande to speedily intervene.

We call on the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Blade Nzimande to urgently intervene, as this disruption in education and inhumane living conditions cannot be allowed to prevail.

The ANCYL-dominated Student Representative Council (SRC) barred me, and representatives from the Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation (DASO), from addressing students on a public platform. This occurred only minutes after the Progressive Youth Alliance (an ANCYL/YCL alliance) was given a 30 minute speaking slot on the very same platform.

Every political party active at Wits was given extensive time to address students. Yet the DA was not given any time. In correspondence with the SRC’s Clubs and Societies Officer, Apelele Pindani, a Progressive Youth Alliance representative, DASO confirmed a 15 minute speaking slot for this morning.

Yet this morning it was claimed that the DA did not book a speaking slot. This is simply not true, since Mr Pindani confirmed DASO’s speaking slot last week Friday already.

This is yet another example of how the ANC is attempting to close down the democratic space at our universities. There is a growing intolerance in the ANC of differing views.

I will today write to the Dean of Students at Wits, Ms Prem Coopoo, to bring this unfortunate incident to her attention. Action must be taken against the SRC members who are engaging in anti-democratic practices.

I look forward to returning to Wits to talk about the DA’s vision for the future. Young people have the right to hear from all political perspectives. This is the key to ensuring that the next generation of South Africans is active, engaged and informed.

Media enquiries:

Mmusi Maimane
DA National Spokesperson
082 330 1652

Dawie Scholtz
Support Officer to the National Spokesperson
079 499 5768

The congress will elect a new National Management Committee for the DA Youth including a Federal Youth Leader and Chairperson. Any official member of the DA Youth may avail him/herself for nomination to the five positions available.

As well as electing leadership, the congress will also deal with policy proposals and amendments to the internal rules and procedures.

Deadlines with respect to nominations, delegates, the submission of resolutions, as well as the rules governing campaigning, will be communicated to all structures by the Presiding Officer in due course.

Media enquiries:

Makashule Gana
Federal DA Youth Leader
082 773 4755

Aimee Franklin
National Youth Coordinator
072 232 0127

Almost three years to the day since the subsidy was first announced by President Zuma, the ANC has finally committed to its implementation, with ANC policy head Jeff Radebe reportedly indicating that the ANC wants “to move with speed on this issue because we are ready”.

This appears to be a significant victory for the DA in what has been a long and painstaking fight in Parliament, online, and on the streets of South Africa.

Given this news, I will today write to Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, to enquire on the status of the implementation of the youth wage subsidy. I will also urge Minister Gordhan to ensure that the design will be in line with that contained in National Treasury’s document on the youth wage subsidy, which was published in February 2011.

Some doubt on the implementation of the subsidy remains, however. ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe has reportedly fudged the issue by bizarrely stating that there is a “difference between incentives and the subsidy”.  This is, quite plainly, nonsense, and highlights the importance of National Treasury holding the line on their design, which will create the most jobs for young South Africans, and should not be watered down.

Media enquiries:

Tim Harris MP
DA Shadow Minister of Finance
082 427 3751

Piera Abbott
Senior Media Officer
076 130 5779

In the face of continued under-performance by the NYDA, the DA Youth welcomes the rejection of the request by the Committee and once again asserts that the agency should instead be disbanded and its budget put towards initiatives that can bring about real change to young people, such as a Youth Wage Subsidy.

If the NYDA’s current budget of R376 million is allocated to implementing a Youth Wage Subsidy, over 10 162 job opportunities can be created. Surely this is of more value to South Africa’s youth than an under-performing agency made up of ANC Youth League cronies more interested in their salaries than the welfare of young people?

How the agency has the nerve to pull out the begging bowl at every turn to ask for more funding in light of their dismal performance is beyond belief.

To begin with, the agency has been without a national board since May 2012. In a parliamentary reply in March 2012, Minister in the Presidency, Collins Chabane, indicated that the NYDA’s Jobs Online Database (one of the agency’s flagship projects aimed at connecting unemployed young people with job opportunities) had, as of that date, only connected young people with opportunities in 10 companies/government departments. He admitted that in many of these instances the companies/departments had not even used young people from the database due to the poor quality of candidates.

Out of a current budget of R376 million only 40% is spent on direct projects benefitting young people, with a whopping R174 million or 42% being spent on inflated salaries for the agency’s 387 staff members, many of whom are ANC Youth League aligned cronies.

It is most encouraging that Parliament is starting to recognize the gross under-performance of the NYDA. The DA Youth hopes that they will soon come to realize that the NYDA does not have young people’s best interests at heart and that state funds can be far better spent.

Media enquiries:

Makashule Gana
Federal DA Youth Leader
082 773 4755

Aimee Franklin
National Youth Coordinator
072 232 0127

On Monday, 3 December, the Minister of Basic Education released the 2012 Annual National Assessment (ANA) results for Grades 1- 6 and 9. There was shock and disappointment when the results, in which average performance is below 40% in most areas, showed that our learners still find it difficult to comprehend language and do basic mathematics. Most people have expressed shock at these results and seem taken by surprise, as if they believe that they supported our learners enough to ensure their success. The truth of the matter is that we are not doing enough. It is no different to us expecting Bafana Bafana to win the world cup in 2014 when we have not attended any of their games since 2010.

Amidst the commentary about the bad results, most notably the 12,7% average for Grade 9 mathematics, there have also been sprinklings of praise. The Minister has highlighted her satisfaction at perceived improvements in the lower Grades’ mathematics results. A closer look at the results for Grades 2 and 3 however show that we have actually gone backwards. Assuming that the group of learners that were tested last year are the same for 2012, something has gone wrong. In 2011 Grade 1 learners scored 63% for mathematics. In 2012 the same group, now doing Grade 2, scored 55%, a drop of 8%. The same group that wrote Grade 2 mathematics in 2011 and Grade 3 in 2012 dropped from 55% in 2011 to 41% in 2012, a drop of 25%. In essence what the ANA results are saying is that our children’s grasp of mathematics decreases as they progress through school.

We need to be asking ourselves some very important questions about what has gone wrong in 12 months to reverse the gains made last year so dramatically.

Whilst it is easy to apportion blame to everyone but ourselves, we need to asses our role in our children’s results. Yes, the Minister is to be blamed, so are the teachers, curriculum and a host of other factors, but we must take collective responsibility. To expand on my analogy of soccer, what we have is a situation where midfielders are blaming strikers, strikers blaming the goalkeeper and the goalkeeper blaming the ball. Pointing fingers will not repair the damage or help the team to progress. Teachers and the government must be held responsible for their failure to deliver, but at the same time we as learners must protest when we are still without textbooks weeks into the term or our teachers fail to arrive in class on time, as must we as parents assist our children with homework and attend parent-teacher meetings.

When it comes to election time we need to think very carefully before giving our vote to a party that persists in delivering substandard education to our kids. Do we want to be remembered as the generation that traded our children’s future for loyalty to a failed party?

In the Western Cape the DA-led Provincial Government has set itself a number of targets that it is working on progressively realising by 2019 in order to play its role in giving our children a quality education. Some achievements, amongst others, include allocating an additional 650 posts to the Foundation Phase to keep the learner to teacher ratio as low as possible and launching an incentive programme that financially rewards primary and high schools for increasing the number and quality of passes in literacy and numeracy testing and the NSC.

The delivery of education is however not to be solely left in the hands of the government. Ours should not be a nation of ‘I told you so’ after the ANA results are announced. We should constantly monitor and provide oversight over the education system and correct problems as they arise, rather than wait for results to be announced. We should all take a collective interest in the education of our children. We must also stop the habit of telling our children that mathematics is a very difficult subject. I know parents and teachers who discourage learners from taking mathematics in order to ensure they pass their grades easily.

This also means that we must have teachers that are willing and prepared to teach, a conducive government-facilitated teaching environment and learners ready to learn. Of crucial importance, we must depoliticise the public service. Officials in the Department of Education must never be appointed because they belong to a particular political organization. The Education Department is too crucial to be populated with people who do not have a passion for education, and our children’s future is too precious to leave solely in the hands of a national government that has proven it cannot deliver.

I wish you all happy festive season. Let’s keep building the Blue machine.

Regards,

Makashule Gana
DA Youth Federal Leader

A letter sent by the DA Youth to the President in August imploring him to reject the proposed ANC-aligned board candidates and appoint a politically neutral board remain unanswered. The NYDA remains without a board and the youth slip deeper into crisis as each day passes.

Is this yet another decision that the President is putting on hold to protect his political career until after Mangaung? There can be no other compelling reason as to why the NYDA would be left without a national board for so long. We saw it with the Youth Wage Subsidy, on which the President is allowing a deadlock to persist while kowtowing to Cosatu, and now we see it with the NYDA. Zuma is quite happy to let South Africa’s youth burn to protect his own political career. The President’s actions may save him in December, but come 2014 Zuma’s complete disregard for the youth of South Africa will not be forgotten.

Media enquiries:

Makashule Gana
Federal DA Youth Leader
082 773 4755

Aimee Franklin
National Youth Coordinator
072 232 0127