Deputy President Paul Mashatile used his keynote address at the Youth Day commemoration event at the North West University Rag Farm Stadium in Potchefstroom to pay tribute to the youth of June 16, 1976.
This year’s National Youth Day commemorative events are taking place under the theme “Skills for the Changing World – Empowering Youth for Meaningful Economic Participation.”
The day has been declared a National Youth Day in recognition of the active role and participation of young people in the liberation struggle, with particular emphasis on the student uprising of 16 June 1976.
The peaceful 1976 youth demonstrations were met with brutal force from the apartheid regime, resulting in the tragic loss of innocent lives, including that of Hector Pieterson, who became the face of the brutality worldwide.
“Today, we honour and pay tribute to the valiant and fearless young people who stood at the forefront of the liberation struggle on June 16, 1976.
Regardless of their youthful stature, the youth of 1976 stood strong in the face of the oppressive system of the apartheid regime.
They faced death with unwavering determination, fuelled by a vision of equal rights and a more just society,” said Mashatile.
In addition, Mashatile said, although it’s 49 years since the fateful day, student leaders like Tsietsi Mashinini, Hastings Ndlovu, and others, who orchestrated the mass demonstration, must never be forgotten.
“We must never forget those who joined the long list of martyrs and paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
These are the young brave souls who fought for a dream that they never saw come to life, a dream that continues to inspire and guide us,” explained the deputy president.
He acknowledged that despite the sacrifices made by the youth of 1976, today’s youth are facing many challenges.
These includes unemployment, drug abuse, and other socio-economic challenges.
“According to Stats SA, young people between the ages of 15 and 34 make up just over half of South Africa’s working-age population, about 20.9 million people.
However, far too many of them can’t find work, especially those between the ages of 15 and 24.
The latest data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that more than half of young people aged between 18 and 34 are unemployed.
This is one of the highest levels we have ever seen, and it is of grave concern,” bemoaned Mashatile.
He also expressed concern about the high number of young people who are Not in Education, Employment, or Training, with the current figures standing at about 3.8 million.
“Among 15–24-year-olds, 37.1% fall into this category, with young women being slightly more affected than young men.
If we look at the wider age group of 15–34 years, the rate is even higher at 45.1%.
Even our graduates are struggling, with nearly one in four graduates (23.9%) struggling to gain employment,” remarked the deputy president.
He described the situation as ‘moral emergency’ and challenged government, business, and communities at large, to fix the structural challenges in the economy to address inequality and skills mismatch between education and what the job market needs.
Mashatile said the government is collaborating with stakeholders like Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator to combat youth economic exclusion by addressing the demand-supply mismatch in the South African labour market.
The deputy president highlighted that over the past five years, several mass youth employment programmes have been implemented to respond to the challenge of youth unemployment.
“The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention was launched in 2020 to cultivate sustainable earning opportunities for young people from all walks of life.
Just yesterday, the Presidency released a progress report on this initiative.
The latest quarterly report confirms that over 4.7 million young people are now registered on the National Pathway Management Network, with more than 1.6 million earning opportunities secured through a variety of initiatives and partnerships.
At the beginning of this month, 205 000 young people were placed in jobs through Phase 5 of the Basic Education Employment Initiative as part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus,” remarked Mashatile.
Furthermore, Mashatile said government has also implemented the Social Employment Fund, adding that it has created and retained 140 000 jobs across over 6 000 sites nationwide, since its inception in 2021.
