South Africa’s youth helped win the liberation struggle, but this generation is now hugely challenged by poverty, lack of education and HIV/Aids, trade-union federation the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on the eve of Youth Day.
Friday is the 30th anniversary of the widespread youth protests, which began on June 16 1976.
”This was the most decisive turning point in our struggle, as thousands of our young people decided that they had put up with racism and repression for long enough. It was time for change,” Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement on Thursday.
Thanks to their parents’ struggles 30 years ago, today’s youth have political freedom. However, they now face their own challenges.
”Despite their political emancipation, the shocking levels of unemployment and poverty condemn thousands to a life of economic hardship and despair … If we are to address all these challenges we must revive the June 1976 traditions of mass mobilisation, which most of today’s youth have not experienced.”
Seventy percent of the unemployed are under the age of 35, and the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 25 was double the national rate.
”The underlying problem remains poor education.”
Craven said two-thirds of pupils left school without matric, leaving education a privilege for those who could afford it.
The youth needed help to battle the HIV/Aids epidemic.
”Young people living with the virus have now been offered a lifeline, with the government beginning the roll-out of anti-retroviral [ARV] treatment in the public-health system, which will give them the chance to live for many more years. But the rate at which ARVs are being distributed is far too slow. We cannot rest until the programme is running at full steam in every province,” said Craven.
Cosatu urged youth not to take a holiday on Friday but to attend Youth Day celebrations. Jobs and education are crucial in commemorating June 16.
”South African workers will never forget the huge debt they owe to the generation of 1976. They risked death, curtailed their education and defied the might of the apartheid state so that future generations could enjoy liberation, democracy and human rights.” — Sapa