Tuesday marks the first day of Youth Month in South Africa. On the 16th, Youth Day will be commemorated, marking 45 years since the June 16 Soweto Youth uprising that shook the country.
Black South African pupils fed-up with the apartheid government’s systematic racism were killed by the police during a protest against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, which forced all Black schools to use Afrikaans and English as the languages of instruction. Afrikaans was used for mathematics, arithmetic, and social studies, while English was used for general science and applied subjects.
The 1976 tragedy is credited, by historians and political pundits, with changing the socio-political landscape in South Africa.
While a lot has changed since then – young people still bear the brunt of some historical injustices.
Education at historically Black schools remains second tier to historically White learning institutions because of some differences in the quality of education. Poverty, unemployment and social injustice are other issues that the majority of young South Africans are still faced with.
Youth unemployment is one of the major challenges in the country, with 55.75% of South Africa’s young people without jobs.
Despite this, however, government and non-profit organisations are continuing efforts to address the matter and other social ills that the young people face.
Below is the list of some of the programmes aimed at empowering the youth:
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Summary of what the organisations do:
- The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) is a South African-based agency established primarily to tackle challenges that the nation’s youth are faced with. Contact details: 087 158 6345 / 5738, info@nyda.gov.za.
- SaferSpaces is a platform run by and for community safety and violence prevention practitioners in South Africa to connect, share knowledge and learn from each other. Contact details: contact@saferspaces.org.za.
- South African Breweries (SAB) Foundation is providing funding for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of historically disadvantaged persons. The foundation is supporting entrepreneurship development and social innovation with a priority focus on providing opportunities within small, medium and micro-sized enterprises for women and youth, people in rural areas, as well as persons with disability. Contact details: 011 881 8111/ 8417.
- Mamelani Projects focuses on Community Health Programme and Youth Development Programme. It provides safe spaces for people to learn more about their health and the health and wellbeing of their families and communities. The organisation provides learning opportunities and supportive relationships to young people who have grown up in Child and Youth Care Centres. Adults work with them so that they can make a smoother transition towards adulthood when they leave residential care. Contact details: +27 21 448-2725, contact@mamelani.org.za.
