THE South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the North West on Monday defined youth unemployment as a ticking time bomb that needs to be urgently "defused".
In a statement, the civic organisation raised concerns regarding the recent Statistics South Africa’s youth unemployment rate survey that recorded an increase in joblessness from 63,20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 63.30 percent in the first quarter of 2021.
Sanco provincial chairperson Paul Sebegoe said: “While the Covid relief social grant was a necessary as well as desirable intervention for the unemployed, it was however, not a sustainable solution for our youth. Their economic participation is critical to extricate them from the cyclical poverty trap characterised by rising unemployment and inequality.”
Sebegoe said the efforts of government departments, as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs), must be geared towards effectively addressing youth development including job creation identified as priorities in the National Development Plan and reaffirmed in the Economic Recovery Plan.
He said the country cannot afford to lose its youth to hopelessness, drugs, gangsterism, and crime if they are to fulfil their historic mission as well as emulate the courageous and inspirational 1976 June 16 generation.
“While opportunities such as free higher education are available for our young people who are our future to soar, job creation opportunities, vocational training, and skills development programmes must be intensified with the support of the business sector as part of economic recovery,” he said.
Sebegoe pointed out that youth development will come with greater responsibility for the youth of today.
“They must adapt to the new normal and brace themselves for a new post-Covid world order in which young people will increasingly play dominant roles,” he said.
He reiterated the call for SMME development supported by mentoring programmes to boost job creation opportunities, support infrastructure development, and inclusive economic growth to give hope to young people.
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