Remarks delivered by the Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga, MP during the Launch of the Youth Month 2025, Hector Peterson Memorial
Honourable Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane
Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities , Ms Mapaseka Steve Letsike
Our Director General, Advocate Mikateko Maluleke
Chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency, Ms Asanda Luwaca
Religious and Traditional Leaders Present
Representatives of Youth Formations present
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. Introduction and background: The significance of Youth Month
Programme Director, exactly one year shy of half a century (49 years) since June 1976, I am deeply honoured, on behalf of the South African Government, to address you this morning as we gather to launch Youth Month 2025 under the theme: "Skills for a Changing World – Empowering Youth for Meaningful Economic Participation." Our theme illuminates the urgent need to arm and future-proof our young people with adaptable skills and capabilities necessary to navigate evolving labour markets and contribute meaningfully to industrial growth in an era of rapid technological and social transformation.
The significance of this theme is best captured and explained in President Ramaphosa's 4th Industrial Revolution Report, which reiterated that:
“Success in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution depends on our ability to unleash the full scientific, industrial, and creative potential of South African society. Failure to respond adequately to these technological advancements— and their infrastructural demands—poses a serious threat to South African industries. It would endanger the well-being of its people and hinder their ability to participate as equals in the global economy. The challenge of our time is not just about developing human capabilities—it is about recognizing the competitive landscape and South Africa’s comparative place among nations. To thrive in this new industrial era, we must not only transform how we learn, work, and live, but also revolutionize the way we think—embracing a mindset of continuous innovation, adaptability, and "out-of-the-box" thinking”.
Programme Director, before delving into this timely theme and articulating our vision for a game-changing all-of-government and all-of-society response to the youth question, I find it necessary—and indeed befitting—to remind both our young people and society at large that Youth Month is no ordinary month, and Youth Day is not a mere holiday. This is a month for us to not only to commemorate but also to draw courage from generations of Oliver Tambo’s young lions whose selfless sacrifice brought about this freedom - the freedom for which many paid with their own lives. To paraphrase President Nelson Mandela: here at home, when injustice had an upper hand, it was the youth who jolted our nation from its slumber and rejected inferior education in a manner that changed the course of our history and accelerated the downfall of apartheid and colonialism.
In their pursuit for the Doors of Learning and Culture to be opened for all, and in their heroic rejection of Verwoerd’s Bantu Education, Hector Pieterson, Hastings Ndlovu, and Tsietsi Mashinini paid the ultimate price. While much of the attention has focused on Soweto, I need you to know that throughout that fateful month ,young people were killed all over the country.John Davids from Manenberg was shot in the head from behind — he was 16 years old. Dennis Dlanza, Abel Gcwabe were all shot and killed in the western cape. Enoch Follie from Soweto was shot above his heart. Many others disappeared without a trace, should be honoured, remembered, and not written out of history.
Programme Director, more often than not, the struggle of 1976 is reduced to their rejection of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. While this was indeed part of their demands, it does not tell the full story. Young people today need to know that the 1976 generation understood one clear message from those who came before:
“Freedom is not free. Powerful people cannot afford to educate powerless people on how to take power away from them. To expect this from an oppressor [like Verwoed] is a contradiction in terms. Once you are truly educated, you will not ask for freedom. You will take it with your own hands”
That generation did not only protest against the mandatory use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black schools, they also demanded that they be taught in their native languages instead.They demanded Economic equality and opportunity and fought for Freedom of movement. They demanded an end to the daily humiliations and dehumanizing treatment that characterized life under apartheid.
Mr Koyenikan, author of the book Wealth for All Africans, says: “Show me the heroes that the youth of your country look up to, and I will tell you the future of your country.” As we honour the Youth month, we are reminded that the heroes our young people choose to emulate serve as both mirrors and prophecies—they reflect our current values while shaping future trajectories. When our young people anchor their aspirations on figures such as Tsietsi Mashinini, they not only inherit political consciousness; they also gain moral courage, resilience, and an understanding that personal advancement must serve, first and foremost, our collective liberation as a people.
In an era where our children are constantly and often opportunistically told to “forget about the past and be forward looking”, the youth month reminds us that nothing has been more detrimental to the wellbeing of the African than accepting the proposed disregard for her history and culture. Professor John Henrik Clarke reminds us that:
“To control a people you must first control what they think about themselves and how they regard their history and culture. And when your conqueror makes you ashamed of your culture and your history, he needs no prison walls and no chains to hold you. The job is already done. When someone erases the memory of who you were when you were free and how we fought for our freedom, he or she makes it impossible for our children to imagine what genuine freedom is supposed to look, feel or even taste like”.
2. A review of our achievements in youth development - from 1975 to 2025
Programme Director,
Having narrated the significance of this Youth Month and the legacy of generations of our young lions, allow me to briefly reflect on some of the major victories that our democratic dispensation has registered in advancing youth empowerment since 1994—and in honouring what the 1976 generation died for.
A. While challenges remain, We have done exceptionally well in Opening the Doors of Learning and Culture.
Exactly 70 years ago, the Freedom Charter (1955)—South Africa’s blueprint for a just, equitable, and humane society—was adopted in Kliptown. Within the Freedom Charter, there is a clarion call that inspired the generation of 1976: “The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened. The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty, and peace”
At Basic Education level, in 1994, the matric pass rate stood at around 58%. As of 2024, our pass rate is now at a historic 87.3%. This is the result of three decades of making education an apex priority of government.
In her article published in July 2024, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, Minister of Higher Education and Training, reminds us that “from its humble beginnings in the early 1990s, the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has grown from a budget of R33m in 1991 serving only 7,240 students”. Today, the NSFAS budget for the 2024/2025 academic year was over R52 billion, funding over 1.1 million students at universities and TVET colleges.
As a result of this level of investment, the demographic composition of our higher education system has been fundamentally transformed. In 1994, there were 266,190 black students, representing 50.4% of the student population in higher education. By 2020, black students (862,313) represented 80% of the student population. Quite markedly, in 2017, our government transformed NSFAS from majority loan into a grant in order to ensure that higher education does not become a debt- sentence for our young people.
Thousands of young professionals, corporate executives, senior government officials, and captains of industry—to mention but a few—are fine products of the significant investment our country has made in education. Beyond NSFAS, scholarships offered by local, provincial, and national government departments have further reinforced access to and success in higher education. This includes the NYDA’s Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship, which continues to support the educational aspirations of youth from rural and township communities. We have also met and surpassed gender parity in higher education participation rates— over 60% of graduates from our colleges and universities are women.
Thirty years later, we can say without any fear of contradiction that the democratic project has honoured the Freedom Charter, the generation of 1976, and the call for the Doors of Learning and Culture to be opened. As the demand for education continues to grow, of course challenges around accommodation and the administration of NSFAS have naturally emerged. However, under the leadership of Dr Nkabane, we are pleased to see NSFAS, SETAs and other Skills Development Vehicles being turned around to ensure that no deserving student is left behind.
B. Mass Employment Programmes and Support for Youth Entrepreneurs
Programme Director,
Over the past five years, several mass youth employment programmes have also been implemented across the length and breadth of the country in order to respond to the challenge of youth unemployment.
Notably, the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) was launched in 2020 in order to cultivate sustainable earning opportunities for young people from all walks of life. Yesterday, the Presidency released a progress report with regard to this initiative. The latest quarterly report confirms that over 4.78 million young people are now registered on the National Pathway Management Network, with more than 1.6 million earning opportunities secured through a variety of initiatives and partnerships.
Alongside these initiatives, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has dedicated substantial resources to promoting a culture of entrepreneurship among young people from all walks of life.
C. Women in Innovation and Science
Since 1994, our institutions have made significant strides in producing renowned women as agricultural industrialists, aviators, mariners, engineers, and artists. Thirty years later, we pride ourselves on several women who are making groundbreaking contributions in science and technology.
Mongiwa Ntuli (17) – We also honour Mongiwa Ntuli, a young woman from Rosettenville, Johannesburg, who completed a degree in Actuarial Sciences—one of the most challenging degrees—at the University of Pretoria at the age of 17. Mongiwa’s remarkable academic journey is a powerful testament to what our young people are capable of when given even half the chance.
3. Youth unemployment – the reality that persists
Programme Director,
Despite the progress we have mentioned above, we are the first to acknowledge that, for the majority of our young people, their reality remains untenable, undesirable, and unsustainable. As early as 2019, President Ramaphosa identified youth unemployment as “a national crisis that demands urgent, innovative, and coordinated solutions.”
Unemployment numbers are extremely high but the situation is even more pronounced among the youngest jobseekers. For youth aged 15 to 24, unemployment stood at 50.3% in Q1:2015. A decade later, it has surged to 62.4%. Among those aged 25 to 34, the rate increased from 31.4% to 40.4% over the same period.
What is particularly disheartening is the growing number of young people who are Neither in Education, Employment, nor Training (NEET), estimated at 3.8 million young people.
This is indeed a crisis.
Three decades into our democratic dispensation, the economic empowerment of young people cannot be business as usual. Placing youth at the centre of re-industrialization must be accompanied by fundamental changes in the structure, systems, and institutions, as well as in patterns of ownership, management, and control of the wealth producing resources in favour of all South Africans, particularly the marginalised, vulnerable, and poor, who are primarily Africans and women.
This requires targeted and sustainable interventions with clearly articulated exit opportunities. Whatever we put on the table must show that we are responding to a crisis.
4. Catalytic projects for skills massification and youth participation in the economy
Programme Director, over the next 5 years, pursuant to the mandate reflected on the Medium Term Development Plan, we have developed the following catalytic interventions that our young people across the country can look forward to.
A. South African National Service Institute - NYS Programme
In May 2024, the Deputy President launched the South African National Service Institute (SANSI), a vehicle we have set up in collaboration with several sister departments (including Higher Education, DTIC, Defence, CSIR) to lead the implementation of a de-siloed, industry-oriented, market-fit and nationally coordinated National Youth Service for South Africa. SANSI will cultivate the productive capabilities of youth who are neither in education, employment, nor training (NEET), with a particular focus on unemployed university, TVET, and community college graduates. Work is underway to ensure that Phase 1 cultivates thousands of AI, coding and robotics instructors; cybersecurity start-ups; drone technicians; industrial energy component manufacturers (for automotive, pharmaceutical, energy and construction industries); market- oriented smallholder agricultural producers and agro- processors; primary healthcare practitioners; and artisans paving rural and small-town roads.
B. Emerging Industrialists Accelerator Programmes
Secondly, we have also conceptualized a series of Emerging Industrialists Apprenticeships Programmes, wherein participating emerging industrialists, unemployed graduates and those who passed matric and are sitting at home, will work alongside experienced industry associations, receiving support from ideation through to product development, financing, market access, and commercialization pathways.
In order to transform young people’s ideas into productive economic activities, we will implement capacity-building programmes aimed at ensuring that young emerging industrialists benefit from the R20 billion-a-year Transformation Fund announced by the President.
In the interest of time, allow me to outline at least five of them, so that young people who are listening can know what to expect from us. In all these initiatives, we will partner with sister departments, industry associations and our TVET colleges and Universities.
PROJECT 1 : National Goat and Sheep Industry Development, Skills Transfer and Commercialization Programme
First, our National Goat and Sheep Commercialisation Programme that will cultivate thousands of NEET youth into market-oriented emerging smallholder goat and sheep farmers across all nine provinces.The first intake of 5,000 unemployed TVET graduates (across all provinces) will undergo 10 months of intensive and highly specialised market-oriented training, capacity building, and mentorship.
At the end , each of the graduates will receive a start-pack that includes land, infrastructure, initial herd (52 goats/sheep) and related value-chain support until they stand on their feet. We are also engaging the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to ensure that young people in this stream are provided with the necessary land to farm and are supported in accessing both domestic and foreign markets.
Project 2: The AI, Coding and Robotics Instructors Brigade
In light of the recently gazetted Coding and Robotics curriculum, we will be training a brigade of 5,000 AI, Coding, and Robotics Instructors who will provide comprehensive technical and pedagogical support for the implementation of the curriculum in rural and township schools.
Project 3: Cyber Security Training and New Venture Creation Program
The third project is the Cyber Security Training and New Venture Creation Program. Recent Cyber attacks on key institutions including Transnet, and City Power in Johannesburg have demonstrated the vulnerability of vital systems and their potential for widespread economic disruption. To this end, in partnership with the CSIR, we have developed a Cyber Security Training and New Venture Creation Program in order to meet a severe cybersecurity skills shortage estimated at 10,000 professionals. Beneficiaries of this intervention will develop expertise in domains such as cloud security, AI-driven threat detection, operational technology security for critical infrastructure, data privacy and governance, and digital forensics.
Upon completion, graduates will be positioned to register their start-ups , while others pursue multiple career pathways in South Africa and Africa’s growing cybersecurity ecosystem.
Project 4: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) - Drone Technician, Piloting and Industrial Applications Skills Development and New Venture Creation Programme
The rapidly expanding drone industry represents a cutting- edge sector with applications across multiple domains such as security, agriculture, logistics, and emergency services. Almost all wars are being fought using unmanned aerial vehicles.
To this end, we will be capacitating unemployed graduates to design, manufacture and pilot Unmanned Aerial Vehicles across industries.Upon completion, graduates will complete with clearly defined exit opportunities. The technical skills acquired are easily transferable to related fields such as geospatial analysis, aerial photography, search and rescue operations, and border management, creating sustainable opportunities as drone applications continue to evolve.
Project 5: Young Women in Mining, Energy Security and Related Value-Chains
Programme Director, our country’s geological heritage represents one of the world's greatest concentrations of mineral wealth, including an abundance of critical minerals essential to global energy and technological transitions. This unique endowment positions South Africa at the nexus of a growing global demand for the minerals that power renewable energy, electric vehicles, advanced electronics, and defence technologies.
A few weeks ago Minister Mantashe released a Critical Minerals Strategy that we all need to familiarize ourselves with. The beneficiation of our mineral wealth needs to move from theory to practice and young people must be at the forefront of it.
Against this backdrop, we have conceptualised the Young Women in Mining and Energy Security Emerging Industrialists Accelerator Programme which, once operational, will capacitate young women in advanced manufacturing techniques for energy components, quality control systems, supply chain management, and industrial operations—specifically tailored to targeted sub sectors including nuclear energy infrastructure, renewable energy components, green hydrogen production, and sustainable aviation fuels.
In addition to these initiatives, we will reimagine, restructure, and advocate for the adequate resourcing of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and its programmes, transforming it into a national agency that is not only fit for purpose but also inclusive, responsive, and representative of all youth.
Programme Director, Today, the youth of our continent face the critical task of deciding which heroes deserve their following— particularly as globalized media often elevates individualistic success over societal progress. Remembering the generation of 1976 in a meaningful way enables us to reimagine an alternative society—one that is just, equitable, sovereign, and only considered prosperous when all—not some—live in dignity.
It is at this point that I have the honour of declaring youth month 2025 officially launched.
I thank you.
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