This, as the National Youth Development Agency launches the 2019 Youth Month at the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum in Soweto. 

The month of June is celebrated as Youth Month in the country to pay tribute to the school pupils who lost their lives during the June 16 uprising in Soweto in 1976. 

Between 3000 and 10 000 students stood up against the apartheid regime and fought for freedom and the right to equal education. 

The group had organised a march against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at schools. With this year’s youth month marking 25 years of democracy, expectations are high that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s new cabinet will bring about the much-needed change for the youth.

According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2019, the number of unemployment has increased to 27.6% totalling 6.2 million unemployed people as compared to 6.1 million at the end of December 2018, with the majority being youth. 

Meanwhile, social media users are taking to Twitter and Facebook to call for economic growth, skills development for the youth and job creation.

OFM News