Luvo Gila may be only 12 years old, but as youth minister of foreign affairs he has many responsibilities. He spends his time attending functions such as the recent Africa Aerospace and Defence Show at Waterkloof Air Base, where he hobnobbed with Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota.
‘I was democratically elected by the children at my school, a few electoral officers and the teachers,” says the boy who has stated since Grade 1 that he intends being president one day.
The youth cabinet at Jeppe Preparatory School in Johannesburg consists of 28 children — 15 ministers and 13 deputies — who will stay in office for 12 months. Jeppe is the first primary school in the country to become involved in the 15-school project steered by the African General Equity (Age) Foundation.
‘I attended a conference earlier this year and heard about the youth ministers programme,” says Annamarie Smit, who teaches Grade 6 at Jeppe Preparatory. ‘I approached the Age Foundation, and their first response was to suggest that primary-school children wouldn’t be able to speak in public. But we gave it a try and the results have been impressive.”
Being a youth minister is a serious job. Gila’s main project is to bring an exchange student from a war-stricken African country to South Africa.
‘We’re trying to work through the Pan African Parliament, where we’re also hoping to get youth representation. I have also met the defence minister to see what he can do to help us.”
Gila fortunately does not have to do all the work himself. Apart from having a deputy minister, he has appointed two personal assistants and a secretary.
He says he is not scared of hard toil. ‘I was voted into the position, because people know I’m capable,” he says.
The youth cabinet meets every day after school to assess the progress of their various projects.
‘We are not allowed to let our studies slide,” says Gila. ‘If our marks go down, we’re taken off the programme. So far it hasn’t been too much of a task to balance schoolwork and cabinet duties.”
So what does a youth minister do in his spare time?
‘I play cricket and soccer, and I read a lot. You have to read. You can’t go into an interview without knowing your thing. You need to read constantly. I usually read science non-fiction and a few political and sports autobiographies.”
And in a few years’ time, when his school days are over?
‘I want to go to university while making my way in youth politics. I don’t know what I’ll study. I think I am too young to make a good choice. But I’m not keen on the arts, because that’s what just about everybody else does. I want to stay an individual. I’ll probably study science.”
And then? ‘I want to be recognised by the African National Congress Youth League and then I can hopefully make it into Parliament. I want to become a Member of Parliament, and possibly even president eventually.”