The rapidly rising number of youth who are not economically active has long reached a crisis point in SA. In 2021, the rate of unemployed youth rose to 46%.
Still, this is not the only youth crisis our country faces — 3.4-million out of 10.2-million youth aged 15 to 24 are either unemployed or not in any form of education or training. This means, more than an inability to find ways to become economically active, many young people are exiting basic education with no prospective access to tertiary education opportunities.
The developmental needs of SA’s youth are overwhelming. Although the youth often find it difficult to make the transition from education to employment, throughout their journey into adulthood, young people are also faced with rising levels of mental illness, are unable to secure affordable housing, and are disproportionately the victims and perpetrators of crime.
Often children themselves, young people are also parents who, more often than not, have no access early childhood development for their children and are also tasked with taking care of ailing parents and younger siblings .
Much of our attention and social development efforts as a country has been focused on youth employment. Government, the private sector and non-profit organisations spend billions every year on programmes that are not yielding results, even as unemployment rises. Some have argued that this is because youth today are too entitled and are not taking up the opportunities afforded to them.
As a youth development practitioner for almost 20 years, I oppose this view for two reasons. First and foremost, there are two things the youth and every citizen of this country are entitled to: the promise of a functioning constitution — as ours intends to be — and food, water, health, safety and dignity.
People should not need a job to access basic human rights and have the right to life, as these are public goods for the public interest. Governments are tasked with serving the public interest and ensuring that all people can have a dignified life. While it may be argued that one’s sense of dignity and quality of life is improved by the ability to be productive and earn a living, this must be an addition to the basic standard of being treated with respect. At the very least, the youth are entitled to that.
Secondly, although young people are largely unemployed, one would be hard pressed to find masses of youth that are genuinely idle. Young people wake up every day and try to make their lives work. For some, this means dropping out of school as they see no prospects for successful completion — hence they exit to begin doing survivalist activities to keep themselves out of abject poverty.
Others commit their time to unpaid community development, becoming the unemployed social workforce that keeps many vulnerable people hopeful. Most young people relentlessly pursue opportunities only to be rejected or find themselves unprepared for those opportunities. Our society and particularly government have failed to support these young people with a concrete plan for their holistic development or an easy-to-access support system.
Young adulthood is a time of great flux and therefore great vulnerability, hence youth being referred to as a transition from childhood to adulthood. SA is pretty decent at supporting children. From grants to stave off hunger to free basic education and children’s homes to keep them safe, children have a network of support. We are also good at knowing when childhood ends.
What we are not clear about is when successful adulthood begins. Youth development must be about helping young people transition successfully to adulthood. To do so, we need to be clear about what this means.
Maybe one is successfully an adult after transitioning into sustainable economic participation. Maybe it includes transitioning from being part of a household to being responsible for oneself, which requires access to housing, water, sanitation and food.
It should either way include building a clear identity and making economic and political choices that fully express one’s individuality. Whatever the definition of success is, young people need more than exploitative work placements and short-term business grants as these are boxes we tick to satisfy ourselves that we have done something.
At a recent discussion hosted by the Rivonia Circle, a political activist organisation, Mogale Mofokeng, a young artist from Soweto said this about what he envisions as fundamental to building a better country — South Africa 2.0: “We are human beings first, before anything else. We are not just machines just trying to get money...If we are at peace with ourselves, then we can lead economically better lives.”
May this always remind us that at the centre of a healthy economy must be young people who are healthy, motivated, secure and imbued with dignity
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