The Youth Are Yet To Escape The Burdens Of Our Past

It is said that no true change is achievable if young people are not leading the charge, and this is borne out by our own history. The 1976 youth uprising will forever form part of the revolutionary architecture that delivered our freedom.

From then, and increasingly through the 1980s, young people were pivotal in the disintegration of apartheid and, ultimately, ushering in our democracy.

But the unsavoury truth is that there is little of substance that sets conditions the youth of today face apart from the stalwarts of 1976. Sure, we have our democracy, and a constitution with an exemplary Bill of Rights which makes provision for equality for all in South Africa.

The majority of youth are, however, in the same boat as the majority of adults: They have yet to escape the socio-economic burdens of the past. The unequal and unfair structure of society limits possibilities for their growth and development.

These circumstances have marginalised young people from participating in our democracy, greatly impacted their position in the Constitutional order.

They therefore feel under-represented and often challenged by the decisions made on their behalf by those who they believe are out of touch with them.

The enormous challenges South Africa presently faces, in the midst of the double whammy of a pandemic and economic crisis, may be an opportune time for the youth to take greater ownership of their future.

Perhaps now is the time for young people to absorb the spirit of the 1976 reformers, and begin changing the current socio-economic priorities in favour of the underprivileged majority.

The tools for this change are available: Participation in developing policy and the law, implementing programs developed and spearheaded by youth, taking advantage of the rights to political association and to vote.

Our current leaders must do more than pay lip-service. They must acknowledge the primacy of youth leadership for the sustainable development of the nation, and create and advance the channels for young people to participate.

Those entrusted with our future would do well to remember the Latin phrase: "Nihil de nobis, sine nobis", meaning, "nothing about us without us".