The end of the month of June marks the end of Youth Month. The focus will now shift away from youth development issues; but this must not be the case and the youth must make sure that their developmental issues stay top of the agenda at all times.
As the youth of 1976 fought for what they wanted and believed in, the youth of today must continue their struggle for their benefit as they are the future of the country.
This year, Youth Month is commemorated under the theme “The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society”, but the country is characterised by a high rate of youth unemployment. This does not bode well for the youth and the future of the country.
The youth hold their emancipation and the future in their hands. Corruption has devastated our beautiful country and the youth must stop turning a blind eye on corruption and lead the fight against this menace to society.
Corruption destroys service delivery, which destroys economic activity, leading to lack of job opportunities. Look at what is happening in Lichtenburg, where Clover is closing a cheese factory due to poor service delivery by the municipality.
The youth is the main loser in this situation as the factory was an avenue for job opportunities for the surrounding community. The youth must fight for proper services and development in their communities as the decay will lead to a loss of economic opportunities in those communities, further increasing youth unemployment.
The youth fought for free education and this is now a reality. The youth must now use the opportunity and enroll for studies that will give them the required scarce skills that will make them employable and close the skills gap in the country for the socioeconomic development of the country. The schooling system must also help to channel the youth to the critical skills in the country.
We need a pool of critical scarce skills to ensure that the country stops importing those skills. It is all in the hands of the youth to make it happen and ensure that there is socioeconomic development for a brighter future. SA is a water scarce and dry country. The socioeconomic development of the country depends on reliable water supply and that is why the department of water and sanitation has got bursaries for deserving students to close the skills gap in the water sector.
The department also has programmes to entice the youth to be water ambassadors at primary and high school and the youth must take these opportunities with open hands to get employed to ensure water security for the socioeconomic development of their communities and the country.
The youth needs to understand that they are the future and the country depends on them, therefore they must act in a responsible manner for the development of the country. We are now faced with the deadly coronavirus and we are now back at lockdown level 4, mainly because of the irresponsible behaviour of people, mainly the youth, who engage in super-spreader events.
The youth need to behave and lead the nation in responsible behaviour to minimise the spread of this killer disease and keep the economy of the country active to revive the economy and create jobs.
The youth hold the key to socioeconomic development of the country and a brighter future for the current and future generations, and it is up to them to ensure that the youth agenda is always on top of the developmental agenda. The Youth Month may be behind us but the youth must ensure they continue the struggle for youth emancipation to ensure a brighter future.
- Khoza works for the department of water and sanitation in Mpumalanga. He writes in his personal capacity
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