June 16, a day set aside not only to commemorate the youth who were killed while marching for their right to education in 1976, but to shine the spotlight on youth today and the current challenges they face as they start building their place in society.
We often hear complaints about the apathy and entitlement that young South Africans supposedly suffer from. Yet the #FeesMustFall movement, which gained international attention, has been just one example of youth anger coming to a head.
For the majority of South African youth, however, the future doesn’t look much better than the past. According to quarterly employment statistics, for the first quarter of 2016, youth unemployment currently sits at 54.50%, an increase from 50.40% in the last quarter of 2015.
According to StatsSA Vulnerable Group Series I: The social Profile of Youth, 2009 – 2014, the data showed that youth with less than matric were more likely to be unemployed, with the share of unemployed young people with less than matric remaining unchanged at 57%.
These are not new issues. In fact, many youth will argue that their predecessors’ struggle was easier, because they were fighting a specific regime. The enemy today is more multi-layered, for e.g. quality of education affects unemployment, and often leads to alcohol and drug abuse, which makes core problems harder to identify and the problems harder to solve.
And so, after 41 years of social, economic and technological progress across the world, it is worth asking the question – are there new ways of solving these problems that we could utilise?
Therefore, the youth must be taught to embrace the triumphant spirit of resilience. We are victors not victims.
As part of its series of debate, the Apartheid Museum will hold a Youth Day discussion on the 16th of June 2017, where young people will come share their thoughts on the ground issues facing them and seek possible solutions.
The discussion topics are as follows:
- How do strikes affect education? By Amanda Zitha a Grade 11 from Fred Norman Secondary School.
- Morden versus traditional values by Hycenthia Motobull , a Grade 12 from Phefeni Secondary School.
- My experiences as a so called born-free South African by Bathabile Mokwena a Grade 8 from Queens High.
- What do girls need? By Thelma Enechi, Grade 10 from Nova Pioneer.
The advent of democracy and freedom has transformed the youth into human beings with the mental power and determination to change their own condition.
It is time that the youth internalise the inspirational words of Nelson Mandela when he said: “The power is in your hands.”
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of South Africa Today
