President Cyril Ramaphosa has vouched for South Africa’s 12 million unemployed youth, saying they have the potential to reach positions of power if given the right opportunities.
Addressing the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising outside Soccer City on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said young South Africans under 35 have untapped potential that must be unlocked.
On Tuesday, South Africa marked the poignant 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising of June 16, 1976, where Ramaphosa made another clarion call to corporate South Africa to invest in the nation’s youth through employment and skills development initiatives.
“So, the young people of our country are saying, give us an opportunity. Allow us to demonstrate what we are capable of. I am asking the private sector to open the doors. The doors of employment. The government has opened the doors to learning.” Ramaphosa stated.
His remarks echo the urgency felt by various leaders, including Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth, who recently lamented the persistently high unemployment rates among the youth, stating that the figures for those aged 15-24 exceed 60%.
The Minister stated that her department has several programmes to help stimulate job creation. This includes the Labour Activation Programme (LAP) and enhancing the coordination of employment interventions, such as supporting the Presidential Youth Employment Initiatives (PYEI).
In addressing the alarming statistics revealed in Quarter 1 of 2026, Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Ramaphosa spoke of the stark reality millions of young South Africans face as they remain outside the realms of employment, education, and training. In saying this, he affirmed that direct action is needed from the private sector to alleviate this crisis, stressing that the government is ready to mitigate the risks businesses may face when hiring inexperienced young workers.
“We will incentivise the private sector through schemes such as the employment tax incentive. Through this initiative, we share the cost of bringing young people into their first job. This is crucial, as the first job is often the hardest to get and carries significant importance for young people’s lives.”
Ramaphosa further urged employers to reconsider outdated hiring practices that require previous experience, highlighting that the pathway to employment should not be barricaded by such limitations.
In honouring the legacy of the youth who sacrificed their lives during the fight against the oppressive Bantu Education system, Ramaphosa expressed that the nation’s progress should hinge on the movement of young people from education to employment and beyond.
“Our progress as a nation must be measured by whether young people are moving from school to skills, from skills to work, and from enterprise support to markets, to scale, and to ownership. This is how we honour the youth of 1976—by building a South Africa in which every young person has a fair chance to learn, to work, to earn, to serve, to build, to create, to own, and to live with dignity,” he vouched.
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za
