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Youth inclusion is a precondition for growth and the government needed to recognise and act on this, or risk the entire country being reduced to being a bystander in the fourth industrial revolution.
This was the overarching sentiment at the inaugural Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Inclusive Growth conference held in the Drakensberg over the weekend.
Motlanthe said the conference report would soon be made public.
Speaking to City Press shortly after the three-day event wrapped up, Motlanthe said when President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the conference and called for the tackling of a number of issues, he was inviting the feedback.
“By giving us tasks it means he is looking forward to feedback and criticism which we will give.”
He said that the theme of “dialogue among equals” was much more relevant as people from all walks of life needed to gather and share the ideas.
Motlanthe said he was very impressed by the young people who gave presentations throughout the conference.
“It was important to get a generational mix of South Africans to wrap their heads around the teething questions,” he said.
He said he was impressed by the young people who presented at the conference and that boded well for the future of the country.
“Young ones from as young as early childhood development level should be taught and groomed for the fourth industrial revolution.”
Motlanthe said it was important that people in communities who felt marginalised must be accommodated to voice their concerns, and that included the youth.
He pointed out he was also impressed by the quality of out-of-the-box discussions, including Professor Xolela Mangcu’s talk that more people were preoccupied with corruption of money to the exclusion of corruption of values.
Referring to the Christian religion’s 10 commandments, he referred to state capture, and joked that there was an 11th commandment that seemed to have taken over society – thou shalt not be caught.
“Values are important in society. If we were not a value-based society then people would live by the 11th commandment and once the 11th commandment is adhered to then the other 10 really don’t matter. The 11th commandment says ‘thou shalt not be caught’,” he said.
Among the list of young people who presented to the gathering was Shaeera Kalla, former #FeesMustFall student activist and former Student Representatives Council president at Wits University, who said the youth had become sidelined in matters of national importance and – consequently – even in the economy, a sentiment shared by various other speakers including University of Pretoria Political Science lecturer and analyst, Sithembile Mbete.
Telkom chief executive Sipho Maseko in his presentation said should the country finally migrate to digital before the end of this year – though it will be the last country in the world to do so – it will be a long overdue move.
Maseko said for the country not to be left behind in the fourth industrial revolution, internet needed to be prioritised and that meant preparing for a digital economy.
Setting the tone on the second day of the conference, former Statistician-General Pali Lehohla likened the National Development Plan (NDP) to a horse that delivers the nation and the party as the jockey.
“The best jockey is a servant leader immersed in the search for evidence in pursuit of constitutionalism,” he said.
In his presentation, Lehohla also indicated that though the country has adopted at least six different economic policies since 1994 with very noble intentions, the last plan to produce a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) year-on-year growth of more than 4% was Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
“It was also under AsgiSA that we experienced almost negative 3% in 2009 but then the rest of the world had a tough time because of the meltdown,” Lehohla said.
