Today’s youth continue battle

ON JUNE 16 1976 the Soweto Uprising would leave South Africa changed. It was a day of horror when school children, protesting against the compulsory use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, clashed with police.

Official figures indicate that 23 young South Africans died on the day although SA History Online puts the number at closer to 200.

It was a day which, years later, would be marked as a public holiday to allow continued commemoration of these children’s lives.

Today, youths in South Africa continue to fight many battles. A recent survey indicated that only 48.8% of high school pupils surveyed by the Gordon Institute of Business Science believe that South Africa would be a good place to have a successful career.

This is opposed to 74% who thought so in 2012.

Many things have changed over the past few years, including the global economic meltdown, and, closer to home, political upheaval and unrest.

The country is not in a good place with the threat of South Africa being relegated to junk status, and the resultant disastrous financial effects thereof, hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles.

As part of the survey, about half of those questioned said they believed that the country’s future was bleak.

Here’s the positive bit though: Many said certain interventions, such as political engagement, were needed to change the sentiment.

Our youth is still thinking. In an age where we are so quick to stereotype as digitally-drugged, vacuous drones only interested in celebrities and their cellphones, our young people are very much aware of what is going on.

And they know that unless they form part of a solution, they will not have a country in which to build their lives.

Political engagement is but part of the solution. The dedication to education, the entrepreneurial spirit, the capability of forward-thinking, the will and strength of mind to be an individual who retains a capacity for teamwork, patriotism and many other factors are needed from young leaders who have the ability to work in making South Africa better for all who live in it.

Franklin D Rooseveldt said, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Let’s start building.