Do we trust the youth enough to make a meaningful contribution in our societies? Are we willing to entrust them with real responsibility?
According to recent stats, about half of the young people in our country are unemployed: Young people aged 15-24 and 25-34 are the most vulnerable in the South African labour market today, with the unemployment rate in these age groups reaching 63.9% and 42,1%, respectively. The largest share of these age groups are inactive in the labour force, and the main reason for this, is discouragement; they have either lost hope of finding a job that fits their skills or can’t seem to find a job in the area they reside.[1] Let that just sink in for a moment. About fifty percent of the youth don’t have a means of income. They are dependent, and the family that they are dependent on, often earns a small income.
So, looking for a job when you have very little financial means is not a joke. Many of these young people can’t readily access Wifi, use their laptop to work on their CV or print a CV. Often they can’t use their smartphone with data to look for jobs, because they simply don’t have the luxury. For myself, a rich (compared to the majority of fellow South Africans) young white man, it is nearly impossible to understand the plight of the young poor. I don’t fully understand their struggle, their despondency, and their anger.
More or less two years later, the July unrest of 2021 seems far away. What started as riots related to the imprisonment of former president Zuma, quickly escalated into widespread looting, and probably for most, had very little to do with the former president. Today, two years later, I wonder how many of the people who took part in the looting were young people. I would guess: probably the majority.
An incident at a supermarket near a township in Pietermaritzburg, still serves as a timely symbol of the plight of many of our youth: an unnamed 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest with a rubber bullet fired by police during the unrest and later succumbed to his wounds.[2] A 15-year-old should not have been in that situation. What are our 15-year-olds up to? What are their dreams and ambitions, do they have hopes for our country, and are they excited to stay here for the rest of their lives?
We haven’t even scratched the surface of education. The point of this chapter is not to paint a comprehensive picture of the state of education in our country, but the following statistic is alarming: “Year-on-year, the unemployment rate among young graduates (aged 15-24 years) declined from 40,3% to 32,6%, while it increased by 6,9 percentage points to 22,4% for those aged 25-34 years in the first quarter of 2022.”[3] Even young graduates have a fair chance of being unemployed. I have to admit: If I had access to sub-average education and I didn’t have selection for university, my life would probably have been profoundly different.
We have many systemic issues that will not be solved easily. Even so, I want to write something about the mind and the spirit of young people.
Today’s young people don’t easily take no for an answer…not necessarily because they are spoilt, but because they believe in a better alternative. They prefer the road less travelled over the status quo. They don’t simply accept that things are the way they are. That is a great thing. As a nation, we need to question many things on the way to building new roads for the future.
Young people have learnt to be resilient. If they are pushed over or slip and fall, they find a way of getting back up. Thinking back on the Covid-19 pandemic and the drastic changes that all of us had to endure, I am most amazed at the way young people found a way to reinvent their world and bounce back. The changes, losses, and trauma that they faced were immense, but they chose to get up and create new pathways of meaning and agency.
Along with the gift of resilience that the youth has received, they should also be entrusted with the gift of responsibility. “According to the mid-year estimates of 2019, the youth (aged 18–34) constitute almost a third of the population (17,84 million) in South Africa.”[4] The youth are the majority in our country. They are the heart, the hands, the feet, and the mind of our country. When our country suffers, they suffer, but they should also be made co-responsible.
All the systemic issues in our country might not be our fault, but it becomes our responsibility. The responsibility towards the future of this beautiful country should be our driving force.
Even though the youth may not be responsible for the unemployment crisis that we face, the youth has a great contribution to make. Many young people are entrepreneurs waiting to be launched. The young woman or man who has the privilege to be receiving tertiary education will be the change agent who creates jobs, makes a tangible contribution to society, and shares some of their intellectual, practical, and financial capital, where the need is great.
The youth often bring the gift of resilience to the table. Sometimes, they just need a supporter, sponsor, or coach who believes in them.
[1] https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15407
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_South_African_unrest
Anru Liebenberg 
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