Pretoria: Fifty years after the class of 1976 relied strictly on courage and dreams to confront the apartheid regime, the government is challenging today's youth to adopt a new generational mission to leverage State-backed digital platforms and funding networks to achieve financial liberation. Speaking during a Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) webinar on government opportunities for youth, Deputy Government Spokesperson William Baloyi emphasised that while the fundamental resilience of South African youth remains unchanged, the tools available to them have evolved dramatically.
According to South African Government News Agency, Baloyi highlighted that the generation of 1976 had a mission to fight the unjust system of education, and today's youth should also have a generational mission. He urged young people to utilize the platforms, opportunities, and other avenues provided by the government while carrying the same courage and dreams as their predecessors. The vehicles available to youth include the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, the National Youth Development Agency, the sayouth.mobi site, the National Youth Service, and the National Youth Empowerment Fund.
Baloyi reiterated the government's commitment to expanding access to skills development, employment opportunities, entrepreneurship support, and funding to enable more young people to participate meaningfully in the economy. He stressed that the government's policy and priority are to ensure that young people are not only encouraged to seek opportunities but are actively connected to practical pathways that lead to earning. "We want the youth not only to be job seekers, but to be job creators," Baloyi stated.
Additionally, young people were reminded to remain vigilant against modern digital threats. While platforms like the zero-rated sayouth.mobi offer free access to verified job and training networks, social media has also given rise to human-trafficking and job scam lures that have trapped desperate citizens abroad. Baloyi warned, "They promise them good jobs... They have been led to get into the jobs, only to find that those are not the real jobs. Make sure that you are alive to misinformation and disinformation. No young person should be left behind."
South Africa recently observed Youth Month in June, culminating in National Youth Day on June 16, which commemorates the historic 1976 Soweto Uprising against apartheid education policies.