SA is breeding an angry generation

When Natalie Pedreiro, 19, who works at a Linksfield coffee shop as a waitress, describes her life, it’s a sad indictment of a broken country.

She sent out hundreds of CVs and the response was the same: Sorry, not enough experience. She had a job – as a carer at a preschool – but lost it because of Covid.

She is the first to acknowledge that she is fortunate to have connections to get the coffee shop job and to have family she can stay with and who can transport her to and from work.

Just for that, there are those who would cry: “White privilege!” She is acutely aware of that and feels empathy for those she works with who don’t have the luxury of private transport and who must raise children on the small salary and tips they earn.

Yet, her story is not about race – it is about the lack of opportunities for all young people.

She, like most of her former schoolmates, wants to go overseas, where finding employment is easier, she believes. Again, she is lucky to have that option.

But Natalie’s story is a warning: we are breeding a whole new angry generation of young unemployed and underemployed people.