On Friday, 16 June, South Africans celebrated Youth Day in remembrance of the 1976 Soweto uprising, where young South Africans opposed the introduction of Afrikaans as medium of instruction in local schools by the apartheid regime. Their bravery ultimately led to the dawn of independence.
In trying to determine whether the youth of today still value education like they did back then, Limpopo Mirror spoke to the Public Servant Association (PSA) and some of the young people from the Vhembe region.
According to the PSA's representative, the government is to blame for not supporting learners from an early age to help them prepare for life's challenges. "Our education system does not prepare the youth for post-schooling. They fail to create long-term employment opportunities for youths to cement the country's future and rescue the economy," says Mr Reuben Maleka of the PSA.
The union says that President Cyril Ramaphosa continues to tout news of foreign investments being made to grow the economy, yet the results of these investments are not visible and do not seem to be benefiting the escalating unemployment rate among youths and young graduates. The PSA calls on the government to address the challenges that young people are faced with, starting by improving and empowering the education sector to produce young citizens who are ready to contribute to the country's economy.
Fhedzisani Ravele, who runs the Muswa Shuma Youth Development in Nzhelele, said: "Today's youth have lost focus. They spend most of their time on very unproductive activities such as drug abuse and more often get themselves involved in crime."
Freedom Boikanyo from Musina feels that today's youth do not really care much about what is going on around them in general. "They need to emulate the 1976 youth mentality, but this seems not achievable, as most youths are unemployed," he says.