What does it mean to be young in South Africa? It is a daily struggle with limited opportunities that can actually lead to some kind of success.
This is according to six youths the Weekend Post sat down with this week to unpack what it means to be young in South Africa.
Getting straight to the point, master in laws student and advocate Nathi Dwayi, 25, said it meant nothing to be young in South Africa anymore.
“Young people are left in squalor in rural areas and townships,” he said.
“They are not being absorbed into society with the skills that they have.
“I believe it means nothing to be young in South Africa.”
But while Tina Smith, 28, a journalism student, agreed there were few opportunities that could lead to prosperity, there was still a lot to celebrate.
“We are young and we could make an impact. It’s an exciting time to be in South Africa,” she said.
“We are 20 years into democracy and it’s exciting even though a lot needs to be addressed.”
But Dwayi hit back, saying there was not much to celebrate but merely reflect on.
“The youth are either stuck with a university qualification and no job or they have no qualifications but also still don’t have a job,” said Dwayi.
“Either way, your life is still not progressing.
“It would mean something if South Africa nurtures and respects the fact that there’s a majority population of young people that are not featured in education, employment and society in general,” he said.
The Weekend Post met the six youths at Bocadillos on First in Walmer on Thursday to also discuss Youth Day, which commemorates the protest that resulted in the Soweto uprising of 1976.
On June 16 1976, children from Soweto protested against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools.
Many died from police gunshots.
Dwayi and Smith had the roundtable discussion with Simnikiwe Pasiya, 22, Lawrence Lwanga 21, Abulele Dilima, 21 and Xolelwa Xaluva, 25.
While it was mostly a relaxed conversation, it became heated when the culture of entitlement among the youth was raised.
“It is weird to say that someone who wants to learn and be a part of the economy of the country is entitled. At the end of the day it’s for the benefit of the country,” said Dilima, who is a microbiology student.
“How can you say I am entitled if I want a better house? If I want a water, if I want a house?
“These are things that will help me and my family.”
“Young people are not entitled, they just want a space where they can better themselves,” she said.
Pasiya, a honours sociology student, said entitlement among the youth needed to be addressed.
“The problem starts when we always want to seem like the superior people who do things better than everyone else.”
“To be young means struggling for everything and anything and to this day we still struggle as a result of gender oppression. We are not a priority for government,” Pasiya said.
Asked to name anything positive about being young, the group struggled find something specific.
Lwanga, a third-year LLB student, said: “South Africa is not a hopeful place to be if you are young. Democracy is a scam as many things remain the same.”
For Dwayi the history he had inherited would always be a positive aspect of being young.
“As a young South African I inherited the history of a country where young people took up arms and conquered.”
“We stand on the shoulders of 1976. We stand on shoulders of the ANC Youth League of the time a generation of [Steve] Biko, [Robert] Sobukwe, people who we do not know but played a huge role in fighting settler domination of that time.”
Dilima said: “The only positive thing is seeing what I have and what I can have that my mother did not.”