The vision that Julius Malema has for the future of the country is one which should terrify any clear-thinking South African. It is a vision based on division, hatred, lies, and self-enrichment at the expense of the poor. It is a vision in which the Constitution is valued no more than the paper on which it is written.

And yet, it would seem that Julius is the voice of the youth. Students flock to his addresses and his grating voice dominates the airwaves. Surely ? surely ? he is not representative of South Africa's young people? Are we not better than this?

In the hopes of finding an alternate vision for South Africa, we turned to the youth leagues of the two major opposition parties, the DA and Cope. We chatted to the DA's youth leader Khume Ramulifho and Cope Youth Movement's deputy general secretary Sthembiso Khanyile.

What vision does your party have for South Africa's youth?

Ramulifho: Open opportunity society where young people use their natural talents and compete for the benefit of our country.

Khanyile: Cope Youth's vision is to build strong self-reliant communities, and advance a caring and inclusive society where the moral value-system of ubuntu is practiced as a means to protect the vulnerable members of our society.

The public is incessantly bombarded with Malema sound-bites ? are other youth formations largely quiet or are people only interested when something outrageous is said?

Ramulifho: I think people, especially the media, are more interested in outrageous things, for instance the DA launched an education campaign in Soshanguve on 20 February 2010, but this launch was not given deserving attention considering the state of our education system. Our education system is in crisis but very little attention is given, if any. The DA Youth mobilised young people to support this campaign. Good news doesn't sell but we will continue advancing and driving campaigns on real issues rather than resorting on divisive and short-sighted issues.

Khanyile: Cope youth has been vocal in the renewal of our organisation. We have been reminding people of what the role of youth is about ? which is to study and prepare themselves to become responsible citizens of society for tomorrow.

Our approach is not to respond to Malema as such, but to add our voice to issues of the day that aim to advance our society and our country, to ensure that South Africa becomes a winning nation, and the youth through education are able to make a meaningful contribution to that. Once we have had the national policy indaba of Cope and when we've reached a common ground and fine-tuned our policy positions our voices will be heard more coherently in the national discourse.

What work is your party's youth division doing at a grassroots level?

Ramulifho: We are driving relevant issues like encouraging learners to go to school, develop and groom leaders to be champions of community issues, embracing our diversity (by) building one nation with one future.

Khanyile: Cope youth has on the 19th of February launched a 'Thuma mina' campaign project. The Youth Movement has taken the initiative to assist the illiterate, the marginalised and the vulnerable by improving facilities at schools and sharing educational skills and knowledge with pupils from poor communities.

Do you think that young people in South Africa are as involved in shaping their own futures as they could be? If not, what do you think could be done to change this?

Ramulifho: No, the education system is designed in a way that is not liberating the youth for the future, but is rather creating dependency on the State. We need to change our education system to produce independent community leaders who take responsibility for their actions and account for such.

People vote for government and within a month or two they go on streets barricading streets, burning schools, libraries etc and not understanding that when they vote they are giving a political party a mandate for five years.

Khanyile: Young people are involved politically, even if the majority may not be active. The politics of the ANC and that of Julius Malema are setting bad example of what politics is about.

In Cope, we orientate our youth to realise that politics is not about being rebellious ? a quick ticket to riches through corrupt and dubious means ? it is about building their knowledge and skills to become better citizens and contributors to wealth creation and economic growth.

We do not want them to aspire to a society of dependency relying on handouts but they must see themselves as capable human beings who can empower themselves and be part of making South Africa a winning nation.

On page two: find out what Ramulifho and Khanyile think of Malema's personal attacks...