By Akani Nkuna
Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga has said that education, training and support for youth-led enterprises must be linked to growing sectors and the practicalities of employment. Â
Chikunga said government, the private sector, higher education institutions, SETAs and industry needed to work more closely to ensure young people are trained for the economic demands of the present and the future.
“It is not enough for young people to enter education if they do not complete [it], and if completion does not lead to work, enterprise or further training. It is not enough to train young people if those skills are not linked to growing sectors, real employers and productive opportunities,” she said.
“It is not enough to support young people with ideas, businesses and digital access if they remain outside finance, procurement, markets, value chains and the digital economy.”
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Chikunga was delivering a keynote address at the media launch of the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1976 Youth Uprising in Soweto on Thursday.
The launch marked the start of a year-long government programme to reflect on and honour the sacrifices of the 1976 student uprising, while mobilising young people around the challenges facing the country today.
Held under the theme “RESET@50 — The Future Calls”, the commemoration seeks to connect the legacy of the 1976 generation with present-day struggles.
The 1976 uprising was sparked by resistance to the apartheid government’s enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black secondary schools.
Chikunga said the contribution of the 1976 generation remained relevant to the lives of young South Africans today, although the struggle had shifted to include unemployment, economic exclusion and the need for access to future industries.
She said that more than 30 years after the attainment of democracy, government could not measure progress only by access to institutions.
Rather, she said, “it must be measured by completion, transition, absorption, ownership and dignity”.
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Chikunga called for a “social reset” aimed at rebuilding the social fabric around young people through social cohesion, patriotism, national identity and shared responsibility.
She said confronting social ills affecting young people was essential to unlocking economic development and growth.
“When young people are no longer ashamed of saying on TV that ‘I drink alcohol’, it cannot be,” Chikunga said, warning about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
The minister said youth had an integral role to play in shaping South Africa’s future.
She urged them to help ensure that the country’s development goals for the next 50 years are met.
“We must ask young people to help shape the next 50 years — towards a National Youth Development Plan 2076 that speaks to digital inclusion, future industries, innovation, ethical and patriotic leadership, economic ownership and a society where no young person is left behind,” said Chikunga.
