ROBERT SOBUKWE TOWN — Young people from across Robert Sobukwe Town gathered at the Dr. Beyers Naudé Local Municipality Council Chambers on 9 September for the town’s first Local Youth Parliament. The initiative, held under the theme “Young People, Democracy and the Legacy of Robert Sobukwe,” brought together 16 scholars from local secondary schools and Eastcape Midlands College.
The Youth Parliament was hosted by the Robert Sobukwe Town Community Development Forum in collaboration with the Dr. Beyers Naudé Local Municipality as part of the Sobukwe Heritage, Memory and Transformation Programme. The parliamentary sitting focused on two key motions. The first dealt with education and historical memory, challenging whether the South African education system does enough to teach young people about African intellectuals and liberation thinkers such as Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. The second motion focused on young people and local government, calling for meaningful and structured youth participation in municipal decision-making, particularly on community development, heritage, and the naming and renaming of public places.
Learners from Nqweba Secondary, Union High, Asherville Secondary, Spandau Secondary and Eastcape Midlands College participated in the session. The programme aimed to encourage young people to participate in issues affecting their communities while strengthening civic education, democratic literacy and leadership development. ANC Chief Whip Councillor Thembekile Spogter welcomed the youth delegates and guests, including Miliswa Sobukwe-Whyte, Belinda Swartz-Botha and veteran woman activist Millicent Norman.
Speaker of the House, Athenkosi Singeni, outlined the rules and procedures of the parliamentary sitting to the 16 youth participants. Organisers said the vision is to make the Local Youth Parliament an annual event, providing young people with a platform to express their intellectual views and become more actively involved in local democratic processes.
