Rising Beyond the Crisis: SA’s Youth and the Future of Work, writes Kershen Pillay
From broken institutions to bold new partnerships, South Africa’s young people are proving that resilience, imagination, and leadership can outpace the failures of the system meant to support them.
South Africa’s education and labour landscape is at a crossroads. The collapse of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, with billions unaccounted for, has left countless aspiring doctors, lawyers, engineers, and actuaries abandoned.
Businesses, meanwhile, are frustrated by dwindling SETA allocations, and President Cyril Ramaphosa is quoted in March 2026 saying that SETAs are ‘no longer fit for purpose.’
We also know the well-publicised Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of 2021, which found that found 81% of Grade 4 learners cannot read with comprehension. We need to acknowledge that the scale of the crisis facing young people is undeniable.
The statistics from a recent Statistics South Africa study are stark: 4.7 million young people are unemployed, 10.6 million are outside the labour force, and an unemployment rate of 60.9% among those aged 15 to 24. These are not just numbers. They represent the silent weight carried by families, the unspoken worry of parents, and the restless energy of young South Africans who long to contribute but cannot find a way in. Fifty years after Hector Pieterson’s sacrifice, we must ask: Is this the South Africa he died for?
Yet hope is not lost.
Ordinary South Africans are not waiting for the future of education and work to arrive; they are building it. In November last year, South Africa hosted the G20 Social Summit, chaired by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola and former Deputy President Dr Phumzile Mlambo‑Ngcuka.
At this summit, the Africa Legacy Project on Expanding Access to Higher Education was launched in partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS), the University of Johannesburg, and employers across sectors from telecoms to healthcare.
Together, we began reimagining curricula to align with the demands of tomorrow’s industries, placing Africa’s youth at the centre of global conversations.
The Africa Legacy Project transformed South Africa into a laboratory of innovation. Fueled by urgency and imagination, leaders worked to produce job creators and entrepreneurs. Out of this process emerged a flagship initiative: The Global Goals 2030: Africa Scholarship. Since its inception last year, this scholarship has supported MBAs, doctoral programmes, BSc qualifications, diplomas and certificates at leading local and international institutions. It created fast‑tracked pathways from no formal education to master’s and doctoral degrees, proving that opportunity is no longer bound by geography but only by imagination and access.
Crucially, the scholarship partners with employers to upskill existing staff, ensuring resilience against technological disruption. It also targets unemployed youth excluded from universities and TVET colleges, creating pathways for them to gain employment while studying. Employers benefit through improved scorecards and a future‑ready workforce. This is what happens when leaders rise to the occasion: transformation becomes tangible.
The G20 Social Summit reminded the world that Africa is not a continent of problems but of solutions. Our demographic dividend is not a burden but a blessing. Our young people are not waiting for handouts; they are demanding platforms to innovate, lead and contribute. The message is clear: Africa’s talent dividend is a global asset.
But this requires leadership. Leaders in business, government, and civil society must rise boldly.
Our task is not simply to create jobs.
Our mandate is to restore dignity, ignite hope, and remind our youth that they are seen, valued, and capable of greatness. How we respond will determine how history remembers us. Will we be remembered as leaders who guided our youth through turbulent waters, or as those who allowed another uprising to erupt half a century later?
The story of the Ndlovu Youth Choir offers a glimpse of what is possible. Emerging from Limpopo, many of its members were orphaned by HIV and raised without basic amenities like running water or electricity. These young people were taught a skill by leaders who chose to rise. Today, they are global sensations. Their journey is proof that when we invest in our youth, courage triumphs over circumstance.
As South Africans, we must recommit to the vision of Ubuntu. Youth unemployment is not an abstract statistic; it is the lived reality of our sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, neighbours, and friends. If we rise together, South Africa will not only participate in the future of education and work; it will lead it.
The question is simple: how do we want to be remembered?
Dr Kershen Pillay is the CEO of Graduate Institute of Financial Services (GIFS).
©Higher Education Media Services.