According to the Data published by Statistics South Africa at the start of June, the official unemployment rate among youth (15-34 years) stood at 46.3% in the first quarter of 2021.
The data shows that out of the 7.2 million unemployed people in the first quarter of 2021, more than half (52.4%) of them had education levels below matric, followed by those with matric only at 37.7%.
20 years old Yibanathi Maboza from Kwa-Nokuthula in Plettenberg Bay is one of the millions of unemployed South Africans who are struggling to survive.
Due to poverty in the family
Maboza was expelled from school by the school Principal in 2016 after he was caught selling dagga at school while he was a grade 9 pupil.
That incident prevented him from reaching grade 12 and now he is struggling to get a job.
He had casual employment with an electricity company in Plettenberg where he was fixing electrical cables and cutting trees but since the beginning of the covid 19 pandemic, he has not been called.
Maboza said: “I do not know what happened to my job, the company just stopped contacting me and I assumed it was due to the lockdown.
My mother died when I was young and left me with my brother and cousin.
We had to make plans to survive because my father was verbally abusive and was not buying us food. I had to start hustling at a young age but unfortunately, that cost me an opportunity to study.”
He has a 26-year-old brother and a 16-year-old cousin who also lost his mom in 2019.
“Whatever we do now helps our young cousin to survive and finish school,” said Maboza.
Maboza and his family live off handouts from neighbours.
They also do piece jobs to make ends meet.
Maboza is an artist that does dance choreography, music and carpentry. He wishes that one day he’ll find a job in the arts and culture department or get an opportunity to refine his carpentry skills.
The greatest struggle for young people in South Africa is unemployment.
It has worsened during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Writing in his weekly open letter to the public, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that creating more opportunities for young people and supporting them to access these opportunities, is the government’s foremost priority.
The unemployment rate among the youth is high irrespective of education level.
Among the graduates, the unemployment rate stood at 40,3 percent.
Basic Education calls for unemployed youth to apply for education assistant placement for phase II of the Basic Education Employment Initiative.
The department seeks to provide 287 000 opportunities for unemployed youth, (+/-192 000) Education Assistants and +/- 95 000 General School Assistants).
Employment and training opportunities in the education sector are part of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) and are funded through Presidential Employment Stimulus.
PES seeks to mitigate the devastating economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
About Author
I have observed that car insurance businesses know the cars which are vulnerable to accidents and various risks. Additionally , they know what type of cars are given to higher risk along with the higher risk they’ve already the higher your premium charge. Understanding the uncomplicated basics with car insurance will help you choose the right sort of insurance policy which will take care of your requirements in case you happen to be involved in an accident. Many thanks for sharing the particular ideas in your blog.
Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write on my website something like that. Can I implement a fragment of your post to my website?