By Edwin Naidu
Deputy Minister Higher Education and Training, Mimmy Gondwe hosted a Skills and Jobs Summit at the University of Johannesburg earlier on Wednesday to find solutions tackling South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis.
“This is a social and political time bomb”, Gondwe said in her address, adding that the economy was neither inclusive or created jobs, which resulted in soaring levels of poverty and the high cost of living.
“The good thing is that we have it in our hands to defuse this ticking time bomb. For me, that is why we are here today. To collectively find ways of defusing this ticking time bomb,” she said.
One of the ways of doing this, she said, was through education and skills development.
A 2019 report by the National Skills Authority indicated that despite efforts to improve the impact of SETAs, there were still significant gaps in skills development, with many learners who had completed training programmes struggling to find employment.
The deputy minister said youth unemployment currently stood at around 45%, meaning that nearly half of the young people in the country could work and wanted to do so, but could not find work.
“This summit must further answer the question of what are we going to do, as a collective, to ensure that we meet the priorities of the current seventh administration, which are to drive inclusive growth and job creation, to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living, and to build a capable and ethical developmental state,” she said.
“Everything we do as the department and as a key role player in the sector must touch on all these priorities. I am possibly restating the obvious when I say: we are all in this together. The success of this summit will be everyone’s success,” she added.
Hosted by the university’s Johannesburg Business School, Gondwe told the meeting that youth unemployment was a significant problem in South Africa, and she raised concerns about the skills mismatch, with graduates from training programmes struggling to find employment.
She said the Skills and Jobs Summit was part of a vision to bring the higher education sector and business into one room to engage on the very critical issue of youth unemployment and skills development.
“We are gathered here this morning in the understanding that all of us, whether as business or members of the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector, we have the common responsibility of being the villagers helping to raise the young of our village.
“Each of us comes to the table with different skill sets, resources and influence. What we must not undermine is that while we may not bring the same amount of whatever resource is at our disposal, what we bring to the table is worthy and necessary,” the Deputy Minister said.
Currently, the overall unemployment rate in South Africa is high, reaching 33.5% in the second quarter of 2024.
The Deputy Minister noted that poverty and low education levels contributed to the high unemployment rates, while women and people with disabilities faced even higher unemployment rates, with the latter approaching 100% in rural areas.
Gondwe warned that there was an urgent need to address these issues to prevent social unrest and create a more inclusive and prosperous society.
She challenged delegates to ensure that at the end of the summit, they pledge on how each of them, given their different areas of activity, would help ensure that opportunities for identified skills that are needed and demanded by this economy.
One of the attendees, Jacques Basson, committed to work with the department to develop a call centre with the potential to create 1000 white-collar jobs within a year.
“Basson has further placed before us ideas on how the agricultural sector can help train young people in the use of biometric technology and another how we can turn farm workers into farmers owning their farms.
These are the kinds of pledges and commitments that I am asking for from the business community,” Gondwe said.
For her, success would resemble access to the economy either as an employer or an entrepreneur, therefore, the higher education sector must create a skilled workforce and a cohort of young people who were able to either find work or create work for themselves and others.
“It is no longer good enough for the PSET sector to measure itself by the number of enrolments or the number of certificates, diplomas and degrees awarded. The sector is now compelled to measure itself on whether the young people who emerge from it, can be absorbed into the economy either as employees or entrepreneurs,” she reiterated.
This would mean that the sector would have contributed to pushing back against the high levels of unemployment and poverty, especially amongst the youth.
“We need both short-term and long-term interventions. We must identify what it is that we can do today as we prepare for what can be done in the long term to ensure that the country’s economy thrives and grows.”
Challenging delegates to move on from old ways, she said: “We are here to invest in the future of our youth, which is investing in the future of our country. We cannot do this without being fully intentional and deliberate.”
INSIDE EDUCATION
