Opinion article by Gcina Mtengwane, Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of the Free State

In Q4 2025, Statistics South Africa reported the official unemployment rate at 31.4%, but for young people aged 15-24 it stood at a staggering 57.0%. Among the 10.3 million youth in this age group, 1.513 million were unemployed, 1.143 million employed, and 3.515 million (34.0%) classified as not in employment, education, or training (NEET). For the broader 15-34 cohort, roughly 4.6 million were jobless, against 5.8 million employed, yielding an unemployment rate of nearly 44%. These figures have barely improved over a decade despite national interventions, with resource-poor areas and rural municipalities bearing the brunt.

The key issues are well-documented. These include a chronic skills mismatch between education outputs and labour-market needs, lack of work experience, spatial inequalities inherited from apartheid, and sluggish economic growth averaging below 1% annually in recent years. In resource-poor communities, these are exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure, limited internet and transport access, scarce mentorship, and few localised opportunities. Young people in rural villages or township wards often face a “double exclusion” in the form of poor schooling followed by a lack of pathways to formal jobs, entrepreneurship support, or even basic career guidance. The result is not only economic waste but deepening social ills like rising crime, substance abuse, mental health crises, protest violence, and eroded trust in democracy. 

National legislation and policy provide a solid framework, implementation falters

National legislation and policy provide a solid framework. The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2020-2030, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Act, and the Integrated Youth Development Strategy emphasise economic participation, skills development, and entrepreneurship. Yet implementation falters precisely where it matters most, at the local government level. Municipalities are constitutionally mandated to deliver services and plan via Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), yet most lack dedicated, functional youth development units. Research consistently shows low policy adoption, with only 19-24% of local municipalities having youth policies in earlier audits, insufficient budgets, untrained staff treating youth issues as “soft” add-ons, poor inter-departmental coordination, and minimal monitoring and evaluation. National programmes arrive fragmented or unfunded at the ward level, leaving citizens disengaged and policies unimplemented. 

The decisive shift required is to move youth development beyond rhetoric and patronage toward a deliberate, concerted, and specialised effort led by local government itself. Youth Development Officers and dedicated units must become mandatory, merit-based positions in every municipality. Appointments must be insulated from political interference through transparent, competency-based recruitment aligned with the Municipal Systems Act and SALGA’s Local Government Professionalisation Framework. This professionalisation delivers exactly the deliberate, concerted, and specialised approach needed. 

Professionalising youth development needed to turn national policy into lived opportunity

Professionalisation would deliver three critical advantages. First, better coordination and operationalisation, with trained practitioners translating NYP and NYDA objectives into localised, evidence-based interventions, with skills programmes aligned with municipal LED strategies. Second, direct citizen engagement would ensue, with professionals embedded at ward level, thus   building trust, conducting genuine needs assessments, and facilitating meaningful youth participation in planning, thus moving beyond tokenistic forums. Third, accountability and impact in resource-poor contexts, would be ensured through rigorous M&E, performance metrics, and specialisation, thus ensuring that scarce resources reach the most vulnerable, and reducing leakage and duplication.

National departments provide enabling funding and oversight, but execution remains local, where trust should be built, and results felt. Evidence from metros with stronger youth desks already shows higher programme uptake and employment transitions. Scaling this model nationally is feasible by leveraging existing higher-education youth-work qualifications, linking funding to professional standards, and enforcing depoliticisation through the Municipal Structures Amendment Act and SALGA compacts. The future of a generation depends on getting this right.