Imagine a South Africa where all the unemployed graduates & youth were to revolt against the current government

In South Africa, the majority of population is youth. Of that youth, most of them are faced with socio-economic ills. The state is dragging its feet in placing strategized systems to rescue our youth from those socio-economic ills. The prioritization of youth initiatives is highly commended but not enough. The State should do more to rescue the youth from those socio-economic ills. We all know that youth have time and energy and the government would benefit in utilizing their time, skills and energy in something constructive that will add to the diminishing economy of our beautiful country. Most of the youth are despondent as they have no means to use their skills in a manner that adds to the growth of the country. Part of this might be caused by the red tape into entering the employment and entrepreneurship space due to lack of funding and other underlying factors.

Lessons learnt from other countries where youth take the forefront to fight for inclusion, teach us that the lack thereof in supporting young people’s initiatives, drives them to look for alternative means. These lessons include positive political activism. A case in mind is a young Pakistani named Malala who won the Nobel Peace prize while fighting for women and children. In South Africa, the revolution adopted to empower women and girls is progressing at a slow pace. We find women and children faced with gender-based violence, inequality and slow-paced inclusion into positions of influence. Zambian revolution was taken up by young men and women and they came out victorious in their revolution for inclusion. Zimbabwean youth is still fighting for its inclusion and is like every other youth in the SADC region is faced with socio-economic challenges. The silence of young people in other SADC countries does not mean in any way that they are satisfied, with the direction their countries are taking.

Currently there is an uprising in one of our neighboring country led by university students and their cry is simple: they want democracy from the monarchy. As experienced by young people across SADC, Swaziland young people and the whole Swazi state, the triple challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty remain a social crisis. Young people are faced with a challenge of lack of opportunities, expansive data to access opportunities and lack of skills development facilities. South African youth is not unique to the challenges faced by other young people in other countries. The long overdue implementation of the plans by government, provokes the young people of any country. The current 43% of unemployment in South Africa is a social problem that needs to be addressed in the immediate. The country is faced with a high number of job loss due to the current pandemic. The economic recovery plan as proposed by the government seems to have little or no effect to reduce the youth unemployment rate at a fast pace instead the continued slow pace as in other factors of the economic growth. This is a ticking time bomb for South Africa.

In the past, we have seen graduates protesting against employment entry requirement of at least five years of experience as that excludes them by default. The State made a promise to remove experience as a requirement to entry level jobs yet when jobs are advertised, experience is still required.

Imagine a South Africa where all the unemployed graduates and youth were to revolt against the current regime, where will the country be with its constitutional democracy and freedom of expression? The monetary loss quantified in all the commissions as a result of corruption and looting leaves us (Youth) with a clear idea that the country has money to lose but not to use constructively, to create opportunities for us. The mismanagement of funds in South Africa is on its own crippling the economy. If all the looted monies were channeled into industrialization of South Africa on purposes of creating jobs, the current statistics of unemployment would not be at such a critical point.

State needs to develop a proper consolidated plan with stringent time frames to rescue the current unemployment crisis, the increased number of gender-based violence and the inclusion of women into positions of influence.

Solomzi Tshona is a social activist and writer. He is a member of the South Africa Youth Council, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Network and the founder of Thuba-Lethu Develoment Forum (NPO), he writes in his personal capacity