ANCYL: Build a healthy nation
2008-04-18 20:07
Johannesburg - Education, a culture of reading and encouraging a healthy lifestyle must be investigated as viable solutions for eradicating youth alcohol abuse, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said on Friday.
In a speech prepared for delivery at the Soul City Workshop on alcohol abuse in Johannesburg, ANCYL President Julius Malema said youth organisations, such as theirs, must be premised on the desire to build a healthy and responsible nation.
"What calibre of youth do we want, who will be champions of South Africa's future?" he asked.
"The degeneration of our moral fibre, both under the yoke of apartheid as well as in the heyday of democracy, was cause for alarm which should spur South Africans into action to safeguard the legacy it inherited."
Alcohol abuse had a direct relationship to the erosion of discipline and respect as integral elements of South Africa's youthful value system, he said.
"Alcohol abuse in South Africa has its roots in the past where, in the midst of poverty and unemployment, beer halls flourished in the townships as a deliberate strategy of the apartheid regime to render our people useless.
"It was for that very reason that our structures at the height of the struggle in the 1980's took a dim view of (alcohol abuse)," Malema said.
Socio-economic dynamics in communities, particularly in the townships, must not be ignored when seeking sustainable solutions.
Poverty and unemployment, specifically, were problems that played a major role in alcohol abuse, and interventions that sought to eradicate poverty and curb unemployment had to be intensified.
The role of the state and the extent to which legislative instruments could be used to halt alcohol abuse must be investigated.
Some delegates at the Youth League's 23rd national congress in Mangaung, found their way into alcohol outlets and then conducted themselves "shamefully", Malema said.
"In achieving our democracy, we have become complacent in the face of a multitude of challenges that seek to displace our youth and rob them of their inheritance - being a South Africa endowed with vibrant youth poised to forever change the face of our country for the better."
Malema again called for a ban on the sale of alcohol on Sundays and that places of entertainment, including clubs, should not be allowed to sell alcohol after 02:00, Malema said.
- SAPA