In June 2026, South Africa marked the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Youth Uprising at a time when the country’s young people continue to confront a different, but equally profound, form of exclusion: one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
In June, Trialogue held a webinar to explore progress made, the persistent structural obstacles facing young people, and how to achieve meaningful change.
The panellists were Mapaseka Setlhodi (National Pathway Management Network Lead, Presidential Youth Employment Initiative in the Presidency), Tshego Bokaba (Group CSI Manager, Momentum Group Foundation), Kgololo Lekoma (CEO of Credipple) and Nokukhanya Cele (Co-founder, Imisebe Agri Services). The webinar was moderated by Trialogue’s Thought Leadership Manager, Sheldon Morais.
Pathways to opportunity
While there is significant effort, investment and innovation in programmes that prepare young people for the world of work, most still struggle to access the economy. “The problem is structural – there are simply not enough accessible entry-level opportunities for young people entering the labour market every year,” Setlhodi pointed out.
The role of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) is not to run one isolated programme but to coordinate interventions across the ecosystem to shift outcomes at scale. This includes levers such as inclusive hiring and a focus on high-growth sectors that can absorb young people in larger numbers.
Demand-led skilling, self-employment and enterprise support, public employment, and pathway management are all part of this approach. At the centre is the National Pathway Management Network (NPMN), which connects these elements and helps young people “see, access and move between opportunities” – whether jobs, training, work-integrated learning or public employment.
The NPMN is also designed to reduce barriers that prevent young people from entering the labour market in the first place. “It costs around R1 500 to look for work each month,” Setlhodi said, pointing to the financial and social constraints many face.
The NPMN also attempts to coordinate fragmented efforts and shift the focus from one-off placements to sustained transitions. “The question we are trying to solve is how to make that pathway less broken and dependent on luck, family resources or social networks,” she said.
Building integrated support systems
Bokaba outlined Momentum Group Foundation’s investments in youth employment, skills development, entrepreneurship and financial education, working with partners to train and place young people in demand-led roles. Programmes are largely ICT-focused, targeting scarce and critical skills, with some absorption into the business itself.
However, she stressed the limits of isolated interventions: youth unemployment is “too large and complex a challenge for any one organisation to solve alone”. Alignment with government priorities is therefore critical, with a focus on “creating more integrated support systems to avoid duplication and avoid paying school fees twice”.
She illustrated this approach through Momentum’s investment in agriculture, particularly programmes focused on young women in rural areas. The sector is challenging, but the Foundation defines success beyond placement outcomes, focusing on retention and entrepreneurial opportunities. Critically, programmes on their own are not enough – a component of psychosocial support is also vital, she said, to help beneficiaries become more resilient.
Bridging the gap between skills and employment
Lekoma introduced webinar attendees to Credipple, a talent intelligence platform that builds solutions across the education-to-work value chain. “Some of those solutions include a marketplace for digital skills, skills verification, and work-integrated simulations,” Lekoma said.
He argued that the current system is falling short: the ecosystem isn’t “playing to win”, and young people struggle to get their “first 100 hours” of experience that would make them employable. Instead, Credipple focuses on helping young people build portfolios of work to demonstrate capability, particularly in a context where skills are rapidly evolving. “The learning journey used to be linear and now it’s circular,” he noted, stressing the need for continuous upskilling as AI reshapes the labour market.
In a pilot programme, the Digital Skills League, participants complete around 160 hours of simulated work, but “they are playing at a disadvantage”, often needing to travel to ICT hubs to access computers while facing connectivity, safety and transport constraints. “Connectivity is a major challenge,” he said, adding that differences in exposure to technology and workplace expectations remain stark.
Creating an entrepreneurial mindset
Cele’s experience illustrated how entrepreneurship often emerges from necessity. After losing their restaurant jobs during Covid, she and her sister started a small food garden without recognising its business potential.
Through Momentum’s Women in Farming programme, which she joined in 2022, she gained both practical and entrepreneurial skills. “Today, we lease three hectares, are training 65 students and employ 10 people,” she said. “Being part of the programme shaped us and helped us to grow so much.”
Her story also underscored the psychological impact of unemployment. “The worst part is having dreams and seeing them so far from your reach,” she said. “You feel like a failure; you lose hope and don’t see yourself as someone who is capable or worthy, until you get an opportunity and grab it with both hands.”
Cele admitted she had initially been sceptical of the programme, but “good mentorship changes everything,” and the training proved a turning point. Unlike other initiatives, she added, Momentum remained actively engaged, visiting participants on site and tracking their progress, rather than offering only once-off support.
Dismantling structural barriers
Setlhodi pointed to the structural barriers that continue to exclude young people – particularly those in rural areas – from accessing opportunities in the first place.
Data costs and uneven connectivity effectively lock many out of digital platforms. While SA Youth is zero-rated and allows access “from anywhere”, affordability and infrastructure remain limiting factors.
To address this, government has supported innovations such as Yomo, a youth-led mobile network operator that connects users to the “best service provider closest to you”, often at cheaper rates, while zero-rating key services. This enables young people to access essential resources, whether applying to university or “watching a YouTube video on how to do calculus,” according to Setlhodi.
She noted that while digital access is critical, geography still shapes opportunity: most jobs remain concentrated in urban centres. Public employment programmes therefore play an important complementary role.
Setlhodi has co-authored an article titled ‘The crisis of missing jobs in a country full of work’, which calls for policy to move away from focusing only on skills and job-seekers toward building systems that fund and organise socially valuable work – such as care, community services and environmental work – into viable livelihoods.
“We need to distinguish between jobs, work and livelihoods.” Jobs, she said, offer economic mobility – but community work can also provide pathways to sustainable employment.
A call for inclusion – and greater urgency
In closing, the panellists returned to a shared message: youth employment is both an economic and social imperative that requires faster, more coordinated action.
Bokaba emphasised that the challenge cannot be addressed through isolated interventions, describing youth employment as “an economic and a social issue”, while highlighting the “hopeful and resilient” calibre of young people in South Africa. The shift now, she argued, must be “from programmes to systems”, with clearly defined roles and stronger cross-sector collaboration.
Setlhodi echoed the systems-thinking approach, adding that there was a moral imperative too. Speaking directly to young people, she said: “Government owes you so much,” pointing to ongoing efforts to build a “coherent, cohesive ecosystem that you can navigate and get opportunities more easily”. She urged funders and companies to “fund pathways, not isolated programmes” and ensure that opportunities are linked to real demand and sustainable livelihoods.
Cele brought the discussion back to the lived experience of young people. “We as the youth are ready to work. We’re ready and looking forward to the opportunities,” she said, but stressed the need to be included in shaping solutions. “Involve us a bit more in these conversations. Ask for our opinions. We want to be part of the solutions.”
Her closing remark captured both the urgency and the historical moment: “The youth of 1976 wanted a seat in the classroom. We’re asking for a seat in the economy.”
Watch the full webinar for additional insight:
Find out more
- Empowering generations: Momentum Metropolitan’s Women in Farming Programme
- Find out more about existing employment initiatives: the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, the National Pathway Management Network, Employment Services of South Africa, Basic Education Employment Initiative, Social Employment Fund, Jobs Boost – Youth Employment Outcomes Fund, The Jobs Fund, Youth Employment Service (Yes4Youth).
