Today’s youth hold the power to lead a transformation. This time not only through protest, but through innovation with compassion.
Dear Young South Africans,
On the morning of 16 June 1976, thousands of students rose with purpose in their hearts. They marched through the streets of Soweto — not with weapons, but with bravery and the unshakable belief that they deserved more: the right to learn, to thrive and to define their own future. That march became a turning point in South Africa’s history. It proved what the youth can do.
Today, nearly five decades later, we face a different kind of struggle. The challenges confronting our youth are no longer just political. They include poverty, inequality, unreliable electricity, outdated education, under-resourced healthcare and one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. As of 2025, 46.1% of South Africans aged 15 to 34 are unemployed (Statistics South Africa, Q1 2025).
But once again, the youth hold the power to lead a transformation. This time, not just through protest, but through innovation.
We need a new kind of uprising. One where we rise through science, technology, engineering, maths and innovation (STEMI). A generation that doesn’t just inherit the future but builds it.
South Africa now stands at the edge of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), which is a moment in history where machines can learn, data can guide decisions and technology can transform our lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to detect pneumonia from chest X-rays, guide cancer treatment pathways, manage energy consumption and even personalise digital education platforms for students in under-resourced schools.
These are no longer global fantasies. They are real opportunities. And the question is: will we, the youth in South Africa, lead this revolution or be left behind by it?
Let us be clear that technology alone will not save us. People will. Specifically, young South Africans who are bold enough to imagine, and build, a better way.
We don’t just need African AI in African hospitals. We need African AI in African classrooms. African AI in our energy grids. African AI guiding public service delivery. We need AI tools that understand our problems, and we need young local minds building them.
This is where T-shaped thinking becomes vital. In the 4IR, it’s not enough to only master one field. We need people with deep expertise in one area, and broad curiosity across others — thinkers who can connect the dots between science and society, code and compassion, data and dignity.
Throughout history, it’s been multidisciplinary minds who’ve shaped the world. Albert Einstein was a scientist and a humanist. Marie Curie bridged chemistry and medicine. Leonardo da Vinci painted masterpieces while sketching inventions centuries ahead of their time. They didn’t fit into boxes, and neither should you.
Now imagine what happens when you, a young person from Gqeberha, or Soweto, or Mitchells Plain, start asking your own questions. You don’t need a PhD or funding to begin. You need a mindset of possibility.
Could you build an app that reduces clinic wait times? Code a tool that teaches math in isiXhosa? Train a model that optimizes solar power in your area? Or even use data to redesign the grant system for more transparency?
These are not pipe dreams. They are projects waiting for your fingerprint.
Start small. Learn to code. Python is beginner-friendly. Use free platforms like Zindi Africa, Kaggle or Coursera. Join a local science club. Solve one tiny problem in your community. Then another.
We are not building for Silicon Valley. We are building for KwaMashu. For Mdantsane. For Africa. And our solutions must be rooted in our realities, not imported models that don’t fit our needs.
Because the energy crisis won’t be solved from London. The school dropout crisis won’t be fixed from New York. The health disparities won’t be healed by someone who doesn’t speak our languages.
Only we can build a future that belongs to us.
Youth Day must be more than memory — it must become a movement. Just like 1976, the most powerful tool is still in your hands. But this time, it may be a keyboard.
As Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it is done.”
And as I say to you today: Don’t just be a consumer of technology, be a creator.
Because the revolution that matters now is one that lights homes, heals patients, elevates education and unlocks the minds of our youth.
If even one of you becomes a climate-tech innovator, an education-tech leader or a cancer researcher — imagine the legacy. Now imagine thousands of you.
This Youth Day, see your mind as your superpower. Your ideas as your responsibility. And your role in South Africa’s story as irreplaceable.
We are not just descendants of the past. We are authors of the future.
Let us build boldly. Let us code with compassion. Let us lead with integrity. Let us rise. With purpose and pride.
Dr Zakia Salod is a medical AI research scientist, software developer, artist and philanthropist. Mail & Guardian Power of Women awardee 2024, STEMI category, youth leader and multi-awarded STEMI advocate in South Africa.