affirmative action, revolution, ethnic cleansing. HIV/Aids and its impact on family and friends is also a major concern for the youth. Further, about one third of our youth is living in households that earn less than R1000 per month. Sex is commonly exchanged for gifts, money, drinks and any other favours that might be bestowed on them. Violence is the order of the day; and many may agree or disagree, but municipalities have literally on a daily basis burning issues to solve due to poor service delivery. Although all long-standing issues, all of them will assume greater significance as the century drags on.
South Africa as an emerging country displays some of the characteristics of a typical emerging country, for example where the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. Issues such as youth development, youth empowerment and youth leadership are basically on each and every organisation and government’s agenda. Many organisations want to engage with the youth when they are developing policies and/or if they intend to change current policy issues. Today, three billion of the world’s population is under the age of 25. More than 40% of South Africans are under the age of 15. This might explain now why the world is so focussed on young people and issues concerning them.
The National Survey amongst South African Black youth (12-17 years) indicated that three quarters are overwhelmingly optimistic about their future in SA, whereas Indian and White youth were less positive. 39% of these youngsters indicated that they do have the intention to leave South Africa. Global career
opportunities are offered and many youths are eager to take advantages of these attractive salaries. The South African government is faced with challenges to keep young South Africans home where Whites are only slightly more likely to move than black professionals.
With the launch of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Jam at the University of Johannesburg, Trevor Manual said that South Africa can create 11 million jobs by 2030. However, he did state that what is good for growth is not always good for job creation, and what is good for job creation is not always good for growth. According to Stats SA’s latest quarterly Labour Force Survey, updated unemployment figures indicated a rise in unemployment figures from 23.9% to 25.2%. This is despite the government’s oft-stated commitment to create jobs. The African Union considers the African youth as an unexploited resource. The African youth constitute 40% of the world’s population. This poses both risk and opportunities as the Executive Director, Dr Thoraya Ahmed Obaid UNFPA stated. Prof Nagia Mohammed Essayed Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology African Union Commission Areas said that areas such as entrepreneurship, innovation and a focus on science and technology will be fit for Africa’s youth for leadership in the 21st century.
Some of the challenges faced by youth leadership organisations are that many programmes promulgate leadership training, but do not distinguish between life-skills and leadership training. Youth organisations experience a constant state of transition as their leaders become too “old” for the
June 2012 | Management Today 51
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