GADIJA BROWN | Skills for a changing world: embracing the youth for meaningful economic participation

Amid a rapidly transforming global economy, one truth remains constant: South Africa’s greatest asset is its young people. This Youth Month, as we reflect on the courage of the 1976 generation, we must also confront the urgent task before us — ensuring today’s youth are equipped with the skills they need not only to participate in the economy, but to lead and shape it.

We are not short of talent or ambition. Young people are brimming with ideas, energy and vision. What they lack are pathways. The skills crisis we face is not just about education — it’s about access, equity and relevance.

The exclusion of black South Africans from meaningful skills training under apartheid has left deep scars. Designed to limit, not uplift, apartheid’s education and labour policies robbed generations of the opportunity to thrive. Today’s high youth unemployment — over 45% — is not just an economic failure; it is the legacy of a deliberate historical injustice.

Yet we cannot only look to the past. Our failure to reform outdated models of education and training is also perpetuating the crisis. Too many of our systems are still preparing young people for jobs that no longer exist.

I agree with Deputy President Paul Mashatile's statement during his Youth Day address that, “South Africa must address the structural challenges in its economy to tackle inequality and the growing mismatch between education and labour market demands”.

He went on to say: “There is urgent need to future-proof our young people with adaptable skills and the necessary capabilities to navigate the evolving labour market and contribute meaningfully to the growth of our economy and industries in an era of rapid technological and social transformation.”

Being conscious of what has contributed to the issues young people face, we must now concentrate on paths rather than pit stops. As stated explicitly by Mashatile, , “This is more than just a financial issue. It is a moral emergency. It affects our whole society and demands urgent action from all sectors, including government, business and communities at large.”

No-one should be left behind; we must ensure that every young South African leaves school with a tangible next step: into a job, a business, a skill or further education.

To prepare for the South African economy of the future, we must:

• Modernise education, especially Stem and TVET;
• Expand digital and green infrastructure in townships and rural areas;
• Reform public procurement to favour youth- and women-owned businesses;
• Support fintech solutions for youth credit access; and
• Embed entrepreneurial education and financial literacy from an early age.

The 21st century economy demands a new vision that includes digitisation, climate change, artificial intelligence and the rise of the green economy, which is reshaping work. We must therefore prioritise:

• Digital skills — from coding to cybersecurity and data analytics; ensure authenticity in AI and data analytics, we must centre human behaviour, acknowledging its influence on data, algorithms and decisions. This means designing systems that are not only intelligent but also ethical, transparent, and accountable to the people they serve;
• Green skills — including sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and climate resilience;
• Entrepreneurial and co-operative skills — empowering youth to create rather than wait for opportunities;
• Critical thinking and civic engagement — enabling youth to understand and transform their environments; and
• Land Skills — including agribusiness management, mechanisation, drone technology, commercial and enterprise development, industrial and economic skills. These skills should further include export market and trade skills.

Skills development must not just serve the labour market; it must serve society. Young people must be equipped not only to find work, but to build a more just, sustainable and inclusive economy.

This is where the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) comes into the picture. The HRDC aims to reduce the scourge of poverty, inequality and unemployment through creating platforms for social partners to deliberate on the country’s skills and human capital development.

Our economic transformation must be people-centred. Skills must foster critical consciousness, not just compliance. As education theorist Paulo Freire argues, we must move from “banking education” to empowering pedagogy — helping youth understand their world and act to change it.

Young people must take up opportunities that are available to them to build a better future. Government has made available initiatives like:

• the Youth Employment Service;
• NYDA grants;
• Sefa loans;
• the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which provide valuable stepping stones; and
• a South African National Service Institute (Sansi), which create a range of nationwide interventions and programmes with sustainable and clearly defined opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, artificial intelligence, coding and robotics, energy and related value chains, among many others. 

The Youth of 1976 have paved the path and we do not start from scratch. 

Let us commit to a South Africa where a girl in a rural village has the same opportunity to code, create and lead as anyone else. Let us build systems that don’t just prepare youth for work but prepare them to reshape the future of work. The future imagined and fought for by the generation of 1976 is the one of dignity, equity and shared prosperity.

In the words of the Mashatile, young people deserve nothing less than a future in which their skills, creativity and determination may thrive in a world that is constantly changing.

• Gadija Brown, special economic adviser to the deputy president

For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za