The current generation of youth activists need to emulate those of 1976 and pick up the spear and lead without fear, writes Kenny Morolong.
Johannesburg - The notion that an activist resembling the youth of 1976 has yet to be born is unfathomable.
There are many stories narrated of the Soweto student uprising but undoubtedly the courage of a young Enos Ngutshane, a Naledi High School pupil in 1976, comes to mind.
On June 8 that year, the apartheid police walked into the gates of the school, ostensibly to arrest Ngutshane who had earlier written a letter to the minister of Bantu administration and development, MC Botha, lamenting the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
The plan of the police to apprehend Ngutshane backfired when they were chased out by pupils, who set their vehicle alight.
Eight days later, Tsietsi Mashinini, Khotso Seatlholo, Dan Montsitsi, Murphy Morobe, Seth Mazibuko and others led the biggest student revolt in the country’s history, which resulted in the apartheid police force killing more than 600 students.
As we mark the 40th anniversary of the Soweto uprisings this week, we do so with a deeper appreciation of the immense sacrifices made by these young activists and their predecessors.
The sacrifices represented a cumulative resolve of young people since the early 1940s when, among others, Mxolisi Majombozi, Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and William Nkomo engineered the formation of the ANC Youth League and later forced the ANC to end deputations and adopt mass resistance.
There is no doubt that ingrained in this formidable activism of youth was a contrived effort to accomplish national liberation.
At the epicentre of every phase of resistance were young activists whose courage was unparalleled with many young lives lost in combat.
Forty years later, formal political freedom has been won, but South Africa’s youth, a dominant population cohort, faces new forms of struggle.
These require a youth activist who is an agent of change, although dissimilar in approach from courageous youths of previous generations, to have the calibre of a Ngutshane, whose profound sense of nationalism sets him apart from the rest.
Among the biggest challenges confronting our nation is stagnation in economic growth and the rate of unemployment, which is stubbornly sitting at a shocking 26.7 percent.
Only 31.1 percent of youth are employed and skill levels among the youth remain low.
A total of 47.5 percent of the youth labour force did not complete secondary education and only 13.8 percent have a tertiary qualification.
Young people are experiencing higher unemployment rates and lower absorption rates relative to adults. Since the dawn of democracy, only 17.9 percent of black people are in skilled employment compared with more than 61 percent of their white counterparts.
A third of the population is dependent on social grants. South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world.
Many initiatives have been introduced by the government and its social partners, such as the Youth Employment Accord, with numerical targets and commitments to address the absorption of young people into the job market.
Although such efforts are commendable and have good prospects, business has an enormous role to play in ensuring inclusive growth though capital investment, creating access to the markets, and support for emerging and small business by imparting knowledge and skills.
The Industrial Policy Action Plan identifies priority sectors for the exploitation of opportunities for industrial and infrastructural development.
The expansion of our infrastructure and proper maintenance of current infrastructure are critical for the stimulation of economic growth.
As recent developments play themselves out and in the wake of this economic crisis facing our country, there is surprisingly an absent voice, conspicuous by its inaudibility; the formidable voice of young activists.
The perspective of youth activists is absent in the public discourse despite the reality that rising youth unemployment represents a systematic exclusion of young people from meaningful economic activity.
It’s baffling that just when our country has narrowly survived a downgrade to junk status by credit ratings firms, youth activists are missing in action.
Their silence is complicit with the reluctance of business to contribute effectively to inclusive growth and the hesitancy of bold state intervention, which should inevitably bolster the integration of young people into the mainstream economy.
As South Africa commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Soweto student uprising, there is an expectation that the class of 1976 will reproduce itself in the current generation of youth activists.
The notion that a youth activist resembling the youth of 1976 has yet to be born is unfathomable given the opportunities available to the current generation of youth activists to affect this country’s development and preserve the legacy of the many young people who perished in the Struggle.
The courage and resilience of a young Ngutshane must inspire the current generation of youth activists to pick up the spear and lead without fear, speak truth to power and create a prosperous South Africa for all.
We are the future, no one can stop us!
* Kenny Morolong currently serves as the Provincial Executive Committee Member for the ANC in the North West.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
The Sunday Independent