The South African Association of Youth Clubs is changing direction again – this time it aims to motivate young people to take charge of their lives. Busi Moloele reports
‘NO, I definitely don’t agree with the label ‘the lost generation’,” says Mokoka Seshabela. “Many young people are on the margins of society – they are unemployed, have no expertise, no long-term goals and so live for the now. It takes commitment to tackle the task, not defeatist labels.”
Seshabela should know. He’s been involved with the Southern African Association of Youth Clubs for seven years, and is now its director.
Formed in the 1930s, the association initially organised itself along racial lines and focused on leisure and recreational activities.
In 1985 its entire strategy changed when the sheer pressure of political and social upheaval caused the organisation to focus instead almost exclusively on courses and opportunities for leadership development and training.
With the exception of the Western Cape, there are clubs in every province, comprising anything from 15 to 50 members. These clubs are affiliated to the association.
An annual fee of R50 entitles the 218 clubs that belong to the association to full use of the national infrastructure – library, training courses and membership camps – there’s a regular bos-beraad.
This year’s week-long membership camp includes inputs from mediation experts, the Independent Mediation Services of South Africa, the Gauteng Department of Health and media groups, discussing topics such as the Constitution, conflict- resolution and the importance of ambition in life.
“The association wants to move away from the idea that ‘someone owes us’ for fighting apartheid, or that we can blame the system for young people’s position today. The youth have got to take charge of their lives,” Seshabela says.
Yet people don’t take youth clubs seriously, he adds. Nevertheless, with over 1 000 diverse clubs in Gauteng alone, the motto Youth Clubs – The Vehicle for Delivery would seem to justify itself.
For some young people, clubs are even more important than school because they are structures the youth have created themselves, their passion and commitment remain rooted in the movement. They are prepared to invest in their clubs where they might not in school.
Seshabela aims to harness this enthusiasm and make youth clubs the vehicle through which personal and collective goals can be attained. “We must affirm young people and move away from politics to development. That is the way forward.”
But there’s no quick fix. Industry tried to throw obsolete computers at the problem of unoccupied ex-self-defence unit members.
“What does that say to our young people?” he asks.
Seshabela is equally disparaging about youth activities that do not, in some way, develop their participants. Street parties and other purely recreational activities hold no attraction for this veteran of the youth club movement.
His own career path was strongly influenced by a dedicated youth worker in Soweto. And in some measure he seems to want to repay the debt he feels he owes the club movement. Part of the responsibility to the movement is keeping it relevant.
Up until the year 2000, the association has set itself the task of addressing a further constituency: to empower those who work with or train young people, because – at present – they are not well enough equipped to do the job.
However, without real long-term investment from the government and industry, the needs and aspirations of these youth will not be met.
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