The DA Youth celebrates two months in office as the nation commemorates the 42nd anniversary of the June 16 1976 student uprising. The 1976 struggle for equal and quality education is one that rages on. The DA Youth recognises that strong leadership is required to redress the injustices of the past.
We believe that South Africa’s youth unemployment rate is now chronic. The situation has worsened over the past decade, despite the fact that this crisis has been brought to the doorstep of government. The conversation keeps changing. The goal posts keep shifting. Existing policy continues to remain just that – policy.
Policy is unable to reach the young person at the street corner who is frustrated day in and out with the realities of not being able to progress. If this is not addressed as a matter of urgency, our frustrations and impatience will continue to grow.
The extent of the crisis is mostly sketched in numbers, such as the unemployment rate which sits at 26.70%. Youth unemployment from the period of 2013 – 2017 has averaged at 51.95% and fails to drop. However, behind the numbers and cruel statistics are the faces and stories of individuals from diverse backgrounds, who continue to suffer every day at the hands of this crisis.
We owe the desperate youth, who are desperate, seek better opportunities and yearn for quality education and skills training. During Youth Month, the DA Youth calls on all young people to take one message to government and to the private sector: we need jobs and we need them now.
In this month, the DA Youth will be intensifying the call for employment opportunities for young people across South Africa. We need our state and the private sector to work with civil society organisations to be creative and innovative.
Local government needs to start investing in projects designed to technologically empower the youth. It must bridge the digital divide through opening online courses, citizen engagement clouds, techno-literacy and simply giving the youth access to the internet.
The DA Youth will this month take to the streets to unmask the face of unemployment. We will go door to door and speak to the unemployed youth. Their story will be made public through giving a voice to our peers. This is a story which the Departments of Labour and Small Business Development must hear.
The one thing that is clear is that youth unemployment is our enemy. This is our position and in this month we will mobilise our structures across the country to take the conversation to where it matters most. Because youth unemployment has a face – 3.3 million faces.