With South Africa’s youth unemployment having reached unsustainably high levels, Momentum Group Foundation has called for increased collaboration to tackle this and to augment the strides it has made thus far in addressing this issue.

Speaking during the group’s ‘Masibambisane for Impact on Youth’ event, held in Johannesburg, on September 16, Momentum Corporate CEO Dumo Mbethe explained that the Foundation in 2017 realised that youth unemployment was a key area in which it could make a difference, and subsequently, shifted its corporate social initiatives to cater to this.

This entailed focusing on youth empowerment through job creation, skills development and fostering entrepreneurship.

“Youth unemployment is one of the most critical issues facing our country,” he stressed.

Mbethe highlighted that the Foundation has reached 50 538 youth in terms of consumer financial education.

Since 2019, over R72-million had been spent on youth employment, across seven provinces, with 2 217 youth trained, 1 456 placed in jobs, and 84 entrepreneurs supported by the Foundation, he outlined.

Mbethe cited a 2024 impact assessment undertaken on the Foundation’s work, which indicated that collaboration was pivotal to undertake initiatives to address the issue of youth unemployment.

It also showed a mismatch between supply and demand, with the country’s underachieving economy resulting in fewer jobs being created.

The study further underscored the increasing importance of entrepreneurship skills.

Mbethe therefore issued a call to action. “We are calling on all corporates, government agencies and civil society – we must work together and align resources and expertise, forming new partnerships that will continue to build on the Foundation’s progress,” he emphasised.

He pointed out that collaboration could include funders investing in youth employment.

He called on interested parties to connect with the foundation to discern how they could collectively support nonprofit organisations that were working in the youth development space to alleviate the youth unemployment challenge.

Delivering the keynote address, Employment and Labour Deputy Minister Ntuthuko Mbongiseni Sibiya expressed the department’s support and said that it would be reaching out to the company on collaboration opportunities.

He added that public-private partnerships were key, with youth unemployment not merely government’s problem to contend with.

Mbethe also mentioned that the Foundation was entering the next phase of its youth employment strategy.

He explained that the lessons gleaned thus far were guiding its future efforts, as the Foundation aimed to create more sustainable employment opportunities for the youth, and in turn, engender growth of the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, during a panel discussion, speakers expanded on the issue of youth unemployment in the country and proffered several suggestions to address it.

Chartered accountant, activist and academic Khaya Sithole said youth unemployment must be viewed within the broader context of unemployment in the country. He explained that this made it harder for youth to get jobs, as they were competing with more people, who likely had more experience.

Moreover, he emphasised that the country’s education system was “sub-optimal”, and not preparing people adequately for the world of work.

Sithole stressed the need to address these and other grassroots issues first, compared with the current approach programmes take of focusing on secondary issues.

Jobs Fund senior finance specialist and team leader Nazeem Hendricks reiterated this, noting that there was a lack of analysis of root causes, and rather, short-term solutions were prioritised.

He warned that because of this, there was a lack of innovation in programmes, and insufficient expertise to undertake them properly.

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator CEO Kasthuri Sani said the problem of youth unemployment was complex and multifaceted, with no single solution.

She expanded that young people faced considerable structural challenges and barriers to employment, which could include anything from a lack of prior experience, to transport challenges and costs, having to support dependants, high data costs to search for jobs and no access to proper work attire.

She stressed that solutions must cater for the youth and be optimised to work around them and these challenges.

Delivery Ka Speed SA founder Godiragetse Mogajane suggested the need to work backwards, that is, discern what was causing youth unemployment in places, and then providing solutions to address this – rather than coming up with a solution and hoping that people get involved.  

He also said opportunities needed to be located close to where people were, to circumvent transport costs and other difficulties.