FIDEL HADEBE | Army of unemployed and dis-engaged youth can become community asset

Our country is facing a huge problem of youth unemployment and escalating crime that continues to grow as demonstrated by reports released by Statistics SA.

Like all countries on the continent we are a country with a young population. A youthful population is an economic asset that has to be harnessed and exploited for purposes of economic growth and development in general. It is young people who make up the bulk of the workforce. They innovate and deliver solutions to local, regional or national problems.

It is a problem however when a big chunk of any country’s youth is on the margins of any meaningful activity, when they are neither at school or working. This is a problem facing us and it poses a serious threat to our well-being as a nation.

When young people are not meaningfully engaged they become an asset to the criminals and the underworld in general. They resort to criminal activities such as selling drugs because they need to survive. The illegal economy becomes attractive. They cripple key infrastructure such as electricity and other cables to earn an income. They steal and vandalise whatever they can lay their hands on including from cemeteries where the dead are supposed to be resting in peace. They become a menace and no-one wins except criminal bosses. They also engage in spontaneous civic activities under the guise of service-delivery protests, barricade roads and cause public mayhem.

The causes of this youth unemployment crisis are many and well documented. They range from lack of economically relevant skills to an under-performing economy that is not producing jobs. There is also a problem of youth development agencies that deal with funding but are unfortunately based in big cities far away from most young people who are left with no idea of what opportunities are available for them.

All of this talks to big policy challenges that will take a long time to resolve but time is sadly not on our side. When one drives around many of our towns and cities one is confronted with a picture of young people walking around aimlessly, some standing on street corners hoping for a pick-up opportunity to do a day’s job somewhere while some sit in places that sell alcohol from early in the morning. 

What quick wins can be done to get us out of this situation given its dire impact on society in general?

The starting point should be implement at local and district level youth engagement programmes that instil and encourage meaningful community engagement among young people covering socially responsible, personal and professional behaviour.  

Although it does not have any immediate financial rewards or remuneration this equips youth with a combination of skills, knowledge, values and motivation to make a difference in their community. These programmes are also useful as they provide participants with crucial social capital and networks that can open future opportunities. Municipality mayors can drive such programmes as part of their local development initiatives and Integrated development plans because it is municipalities that bear the brunt of dis-engaged youth.

Given the state of litter in many parts of our country, for instance, young people can be organised into local cells that do regular cleaning campaigns as part of environmental awareness and promotion of health. Keeping public spaces clean should not be the sole duty of the municipality when there is an army of young people who have nothing to do. This army of unemployed and dis-engaged youth can be turned into a community asset that drives local development. Of course this will take some organising on the part of municipalities to convince young people to see value and merit in such programmes. Communities are stronger and more resilient when young people are given space to participate.

Turning around the current situation is not going to be an easy task but there are many opportunities staring us right in our eyes though often we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the negative around us. It is this negativity that captures our youth and plunges them into a life of hopelessness, drunkenness and criminality. If as society we choose to ignore them and not keep them engaged, the criminal syndicates will gladly recruit them and the results will be devastating for all, as we are beginning to see.