Three decades into democracy, there is nothing to celebrate this Youth Day

IOL News

9 hours ago

The youth of 1994, once celebrated as 'Tintswalo' by President Cyril Ramaphosa, now face a bleak reality with little to show for their parents' sacrifices. This Youth Day, we must confront the failures of a system that has left them behind
Image: SoraAI
June 16 should be a moment to honour the sacrifice of the brave young South Africans who died fighting for justice. But today, we look around and ask, what exactly are we celebrating?
Nearly half of South Africa's young people are unemployed. For those between the ages of 15 and 24, the figure climbs to a staggering 62.4%. These are not just numbers - they are lives left in limbo. It is a generation adrift in the very democracy that was meant to set them free.
And it's an economic ticking time bomb.
After three decades of ANC-led governance, the promise of a better life for all feels like a hollow slogan, especially to the youth.
The children of 1994 – the so called 'Tintswalo' celebrated by President Cyril Ramaphosa – who are now adults, have little to show for the democracy their parents voted for. Instead of opportunity, they've inherited a system that failed them.
South Africa's youth is a demographic goldmine. A young population should be a competitive advantage – a wellspring of energy, innovation, and growth. But because of government mismanagement, our greatest asset has become our greatest liability. We are failing our young people at every turn, in education, in training, in access to jobs, and in the simple dignity of hope.
We are a country rich in mineral wealth and untapped potential, yet our young people stand in snaking queues to access a measly R350 grant. While the elite flaunt their wealth on social media, score tender after tender, fly business class, experience no load-shedding or water cuts, millions of South Africa's youth scavenge in the dust bin of opportunity for whatever dignity they can find.
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How do we justify youth unemployment rates that are the highest in the world — worse than some war-torn regions?
According to figures from StatsSA, more than one in three young South Africans are not in employment, education or training. They are not lazy or waiting for a handout. They are simply shut out of a system riddled with corruption and inertia which no longer works for them — if it ever did.
Thirty years into freedom, too many of our youth still go to township schools with broken toilets and overcrowded classrooms. They leave with matric certificates not worth the paper it is printed on and spend their days following the shade around their homes.
It is not that they lack ambition, it's that the State lacks vision. It's our national shame.
What makes this betrayal more cruel is the legacy of June 16. The youth of 1976 did not face bullets and teargas so that their grandchildren could be discarded by a government that carried so much promise when elected freely in 1994.
They died to end apartheid, not to usher in a new form of economic exclusion.
The ANC government has had more than thirty years to deliver on its promises. Instead, we now have a bloated cabinet, whose members call flying economy class 'sadistic', and rack up R200 million in travel expenses in a year while many South Africans live in squalor and go to bed hungry.
There is nothing to celebrate this Youth Day.
Not when hunger outpaces opportunity. Not when hope is rationed by who you know. Not when millions of young South Africans feel like outsiders in their own country.
What we need now is not another Tintswalo speech. We need action. We need change.
South Africa cannot afford to waste another generation. We need urgent, radical reforms – real skills development, real job creation, real leadership. The young must become the centre of economic policy, not an afterthought buried under slogans.
Until then, spare us the Tintswalo speeches. Spare us the hashtags and the press conferences. There is no pride in pretending things are better than they are. On this Youth Day, we mourn potential denied. And we demand better.
Lee Rondganger is the Deputy Editor of IOL.
IOL Opinion
Lee Rondganger
Image: IOL Graphic