Durban - Experts and youth leaders feel that as the nation commemorates June 16, youth unemployment should be high on the national agenda, as it has a direct impact on society as young people continue to face the burden of economic exclusion.
South Africa faces a glimpse of a dark future as the unemployment rate – which rose to 35.3% in 2022 – is expected to hit a record-breaking 40% by 2030, as per the projection by experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
#FeesMustFall activist Mcebo Dlamini said that the high crime rate, violence, drug use, and the perpetual cycle of poverty were the result of the state’s inability to empower the youth.
“The government has failed to create conducive conditions in order for young people to thrive; in fact, it has made it even more difficult for the young people to access opportunities. It has failed to ensure that institutions of higher learning are accessible. At this stage, how do you empower young people if they cannot be educated?
“Government officials have squandered funds through corruption, which was meant to directly benefit young people. Even agencies that are meant for youth empowerment have been rotten and politicised; people who deserve to get assistance do not get it yet those in close proximity with the politicians are getting economic freedom.”
Dlamini said these challenges were not beyond overcoming but to do so would require all parties to join hands and work together.
“The government must come to its senses and implement meaningful and sustainable policies aimed at developing the youth. Young people must sober up and realise that if they do not insist on being active in shaping the future that they want then no one will do it for them,” said Dlamini.
Dr Antoinette Basson from the Bureau of Market Research at Unisa raised concern about the lack of support for young people in the country.
“We have found in our research that NGOs are underfunded, there is no adequate support and we have found that over the past 12 years, the situation has got worse. There is simply nothing that meets the specific needs of young people; the one-size-fits-all approach is not assisting, and there is an increase in porn (usage) among the youth because there was generally a lack of a healthy lifestyle as a result of poverty. The economic exclusion coupled with other factors pose a threat to the future of young people,” she said.
Basson added that the global sexual exploitation of young people had also increased and that the youth were being trafficked, drugged, and sexually abused.
Independent political analyst and senior lecturer at the University of Limpopo, Dr Metji Makgoba said the failure to empower the youth was a reflection of the failure of the economic-political system.
“Different cultural social-economic institutions do not have the capacity to build a strong society. The is no safe nest to protect the marginalised; we need to ask ourselves what happens to people who are not employed.”
Makgoba said “the problems are multidimensional; lack of sports and recreation facilities in black schools, lack of a strong education system, lack of healthy mechanisms of entertainment, and lack of (an) economy that is working. All these problems combined make it very difficult for young people to survive”.
Conceding that the government had failed to create employment for young people, President Cyril Ramaphosa, despite his numerous promises to create employment opportunities, said during this year’s State of the Nation Address that “the government does not create jobs but businesses do”, and stated that “approximately 80% of the employed people in South Africa work in the private sector”.
This week, Ramaphosa, in his newsletter, acknowledging Statistics SA’s figure of 66.5% youth unemployment, said although the government had made substantial progress in broadening opportunities for young people in basic and higher education, millions of young people remained unemployed.
Daily News