Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza | April 7, 2025
South Africa stares at the time bomb. Over 45% of youth unemployment threatens to explode our future. Our youth, the greatest assets, are lined up on the sidelines while industries such as energy and construction seek skilled hands.
The growth of the country depends on essential and overlooked connections. It will promote industrial transformation among young people. This is not a dream. it's necessary. To break the cycle of stagnation, structural barriers need to be dismantled, technology embraced, and a united front across the sector. The interests are high, but the rewards (prosperous, inclusive economy) are high.
South Africa is all designed to employ skills and youth, including the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Act, National Youth Policy (2020-2030), and integrated youth development strategies.
Still, they wobble. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) study paints pictures of a failed education system at its heart, with rigorous implementation, lack of accountability, and the lack of reading by many Grade 4 learners for meaning.
In my field where precision engineering drives energy infrastructure, this gap is slowing down projects and bleaking the future of our industry. Policies exist, but their effects remain invisible.
Radioactive fallout is tough. Statistics South Africa's fourth quarter data PEG of youth unemployment (ages 15-24) with 59.6%, breeding crime, poverty, and anxiety. In towns and rural areas, the brilliant mind is separated from quality education and professional pathways, embracing a brilliant mind.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) warns that such rates pose a threat to social stability. This is the reality I saw firsthand in the energy sector's struggle to find skilled craftsmen and engineers. This is not just an economic issue. It's a social emergency.
President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2025 National Speak (SONA) and Finance Minister Enoch Godonwana's budget speech nodded to infrastructure and growth, but with practical plans they avoided the unemployment of young people.
Sona promoted the investment, but there was no timeline for youth initiatives. The budget poured R380 billion into debt repayments and won the Oxygen-starved Skills Program. This vacuum requires industry-driven solutions. Here, expertise can fill the gaps left by policy.
HSRC's post-school education and the scalability study of South African labor market and DPRU reveal a crisis of skill discrepancy.
Policy graduates who are not suitable for industries with little visible progress. In my experience, team coaching teams have seen how training can be tailored to real-world needs, like high-pressure boiler systems and specialized welding techniques.
Globally, the shortage of welding machines and engineers is colliding with rising AI and automation, threatening progress. However, this disruption gives South Africa the opportunity to lead. Government inertia continues, underlining the need for national agreements where industry shapes the future.
Hope lies in the major sectors. According to Statistics SA 2022 data, services (62.66% of employment), industry (18.08%) and agriculture (19.26%) are potentially retained. But the energy sector (thinking renewable projects and boiler systems) is far apart.
These sectors absorb young people, reduce poverty and ease power infrastructure, but only if the training meets industry specifications. Construction, engineering and maintenance are ripe for impact. A bridge is needed.
Looking overseas, solutions emerge. Brazil reduced youth unemployment to 17.9% by 2023 through a robust apprenticeship program (Ibge, 2023).
India's Skills India Initiative leveraged public partnerships to create millions of jobs in the digital and manufacturing sectors (ILO, 2024). South Africa can adapt these. Created energy and technology apprentices and reduced deficits for youth startups. These are not theory. They are blueprints for conversion.
To harness the possibilities of our nation, we need to bridge the gap between policy rhetoric and effective action. This requires an overall strategy for government, industry and civil society to unite.
Revise and streamline policy frameworks: reform initiatives such as National Youth Policy (2020-2030), with clear, measurable goals and robust surveillance systems to ensure accountability and inter-sectoral coordination.
Invest in targeted skills initiatives: prioritizing sectors ready for mass employment (advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, digital innovation) from successful models such as Brazilian apprenticeships and Indian skill India. This includes specialized craftsman training programs for high demand skills such as welding, including the opportunity to meet global needs, such as the global shortage (American Welding Association), including the 4,000 000 welding machine failures projected in the US by 2024, as well as to supply world-class talent to international markets.
Leverage public partnerships: Expand initiatives like the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator that connects job seekers with employers and create scalable models for job creation.
Enhanced youth engagement: Make sure youth are not just recipients, they are policy architects and incorporate voices into your decision-making process.
Our future depends on the skill of our fearless, tech-savvy army of youths. The clock clashes with a new era of barriers, ignate industries and bold new leadership in South Africa.
“Disclaimer – the views and opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author and are not necessarily those of the Bee Room.”
