Andile Qolo, KCT, Nyanga
We must take responsibility to move forward.
Youth Day (June 16) has come and gone. Now it’s time to face the reality. This country is faced with many social issues, from school drop-outs, to new HIV infections to undisciplined children – which are all are youth-related.
Beyond those, the government of the day has a responsibility as written in the constitution to provide healthy food, social grants to 17 million, school and clinics people.
After all ,this is what we call human rights – also the responsibility of government.
These leave me with question of what are the roles and responsibilities of citizens particularly the youth. Because the mentality of entitlement is becoming a serious concern. My honest view is that we can’t blame everything on the government.
There must be some sense of responsibility on our side. I say that with the knowledge that many are unemployed.
We don’t produce at all; we are a nation that consumes more than we can afford. We are not taking any responsibility. In fact now I hear voices saying there must be a grant for unemployed. If we are going to talk about rights, our health is the most basic right but we fail to take responsibility to test for HIV/Aids.
We are continuously busy in gangsterism. If we want to create a war let’s do so against HIV/Aids, TB and other opportunistic diseases.
We know many people who are selling drugs in community; again my question is what is the responsibility of us, the community?
We can’t expect police to deal with such matters alone. Our education is in a dire situation, as many youth are murdered in classrooms, teachers are robbed in school. What is our responsibility?
I am aware many might come back blazing, blaming everyone and anyone involved.
I don’t dispute that the government and parents have done wrong, so they must take responsibility for their actions. All I am saying is we must own up our own faults as youth and correct where we can to make things better for the next generation. After all, the youth of 1976 did its part; we must pave our path