Idle minds, social time bomb

August 4, 2009 - In her m&g.com article on idle youths in South Africa Primarashni Gower pointed out nearly three million of the 6,7-million young South Africans in the 18-to-24-year age group were unemployed or not receiving education and training in 2007 -- and they pose a threat of “serious social disruption”.

The research funded by the Ford Foundation and undertaken by the Cape-based Centre for Higher Education Transformation and the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Further Education and Training Institute found that the Reasons for young people not being in education or jobs include:

1.Lack of a diverse post-school public or private college sector;

2.Reduction in educational opportunities because of institutional mergers;

3.Failure of the sector education and training authorities to provide ?adequate learnerships;

4.Less labour market absorption because the government is not meeting the Asgisa target of 6% annual economic growth; and

5.The uncontrolled introduction of more than two million relatively well-educated foreign workers into the labour market.

Read full article HERE.

CIYDA Says: Being that South Africans are our neighbours it's easy to see how this problem would easily mirror what is happening or has been happening in Zimbabwe for a long time. In 2002 unemployment in Zimbabwe amongst those 18-24 year old stood at 25%. From the 5 reasons cited above, two are of great significant to the situation in Zimbabwe, these are number 3 and 5.

With regards to point number 3 the same is true for Zimbabwe. Internship and apprenticeship opportunities have not been forthcoming for young people of lately. Without these most have seen themselves being swallowed into informal trade that gives them no adequate key skills for future employment prospects or any form of reference point in their young lives. Yes it's true most companies have not been willing to take on interns or apprentices due to the harsh economic situation but that is an invalid excuse. Internships and apprenticeships don't have to be costly for companies as most of these young people will work just for expenses as long as they attain the key skills and experience. This is where the government can come in and work with these companies and give them tax breaks or subsidise the cost of hiring an intern or apprentice. This staves the youth idleness and guarantees a ready and fully equipped populace of youths to place into work when the opportunities arise.

It is fair to say point number five has become a problem to South Africans thanks mainly to the educated and hard working Zimbabwean youths crossing into South Africa to obtain employment. There is however both sides to this coin, on the one hand as the government has avoided social time bomb of the same magnitude as that predicted here through this outlet valve of youths puring into South Africa it's nothing to be proud of. We have a serious problem on our hands as this massive brain drain will be difficult to stem in the near future unless something drastic is done. Again by creating beneficial apprenticeships and internships this could be the first step in trying to plug this leak. However more can be done in trying to nature our own entrepreneurs through business start-up support thereby creating not only a source of income for both the individuals and the country but creating jobs. If investing in one youth's project will mean indirectly stopping 5 youths from leaving to seek opportunities in South Africa then that's a positive start. This can only become a reality if the government takes it's role in youth development beyond it's current state and seek to work with the private sector and other visionary organisations like CIYDA.

Disclamer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, it's Executive Director and the CIYDA Team.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is an non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. CIYDA currently has a network connection of over 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.