Creating a sustainable future for the youth
South Africa will always owe a debt of gratitude to the youth of 1976, whose peaceful protest in Soweto against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction was met with police brutality. The images of the force unleashed on children horrified the world and sparked national protests that were instrumental in the United Nations declaring apartheid a crime against humanity.
Their bravery catalysed others to strengthen the fight against apartheid and less than two decades later, the discrimination faced mostly by black South Africans for centuries was legally ended, when a democratic government was elected.
The students are honoured annually on June 16 – Youth Day.
The teenagers of the 70s are today parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents. They now bear witness to a radically different but equally heartbreaking struggle as South Africa’s youth battle crippling unemployment, skills deficits, gender-based violence and substance abuse.
According to the Quarterly
Labour Force Survey, in the first quarter of 2022, 63.9% of youth aged 15–24 and 42% of those aged 25–34 were unemployed – these figures are far higher than the overall national employment rate of 34.5%.
‘Promoting sustainable livelihoods and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow’ is the 2022 Youth Month theme. This encapsulates government’s multi-pronged, multi-sectoral approach to giving the youth the future dreamt of by their 1976 forebears.
It speaks directly to us as public servants, to the private and civil sectors – and to the youth – and is a call to action to all of us to stay informed about the many youth empowerment opportunities that exist.
Government’s Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), which forms part of the holistic Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES), has initiated several youth development and empowerment programmes. These cover formal education and training, learnership and internship opportunities and entrepreneurship.
Over 80% of the 880 000
work opportunities created since the launch of PES in October 2020 went to young people.
One of the success stories of PES is the school assistants programme, which has placed 287 000 young people in schools across the country. Thanks to this ongoing initiative, previously out-of-work youngsters earn a wage, gain work experience and offer relief to overburdened educators.
The latest PES programme, the Social Employment Fund, is recruiting 50 000 participants to work in community safety teams, food kitchens and early childhood development centres, among others. This initiative not only empowers youngsters, but helps address socio-economic challenges.
In a similar vein, the revitalised National Youth Service will create 50 000 jobs for unemployed young people, who will perform acts of service in communities across the country.
A backbone of youth development in South Africa is the National Youth Development Agency. It has done great work in supporting start-up businesses and in the past financial year, has given financial and non-financial support to 7 500 and 30 000 entrepreneurs respectively.
It is indisputable that for South Africa to flourish, our youth need to flourish. Far too many young people live without hope – unaware of the existence of the many lifechanging programmes.
The employed and the empowered can be change agents – opening doors for this desperate generation by pointing out opportunities; ensuring they know about the data-free SAYouth.mobi network that links young people to opportunities for earning, learning and support; and by being mentors. In short, let us help them realise their freedom – that of economic liberation.