This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings, a pivotal moment in South Africa's history. As we reflect on the courage of the youth from 1976, we must also confront the new challenges they face today, particularly in the realms of unemployment and social issues. Discover how today's youth can harness their power to support local industries and drive meaningful change.
Image: Supplied
The youth have always been at the forefront of driving societal change.
This year, South Africa commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings in remembrance of the courage shown by young people who took to the streets and confronted a repressive regime.
The events of June 16, 1976, forever changed South Africa’s landscape.
South Africa has changed markedly since the events of 1976, and in equal measure, young people face new challenges.
The battlefield is no longer on the streets, but in the social and economic arena.
The weapons of choice are no longer rocks and dustbin lids, but entrepreneurship skills, higher education, and aptitude with smart technologies.
The proverbial Goliath towering before the young David is no longer the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of Afrikaans, but the scourge of unemployment, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and gender-based violence.
Like the youth of 1976, the young people of today have Herculean challenges that they must overcome.
The statistics on youth unemployment make for grim reading: Statistics South Africa's latest Q1 2026 Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that 4.7 million people aged between 15 and 34 were unemployed in the first quarter of 2026, while a further 10.6 million were outside the labour force altogether.
Among those aged 15 to 24, the unemployment rate was at 60.9% in the first quarter, while unemployment among those aged 25 to 34 reached more than 40%. The broader youth unemployment rate, covering people aged 15 to 34, stood at 45.8%.
These statistics highlight the persistent challenges faced by young South Africans in entering the workforce and securing stable employment.
The chronic unemployment faced by young people provides fertile ground for the incubation and prevalence of social ills such as drug and alcohol abuse, gender-based violence and hopelessness.
But all is not lost.
Young people need to realise that they wield enormous power to change the course of their destiny.
By leveraging their purchasing power and making the support of local products “cool” and “dope”, young people can trigger a chain reaction that can alter the buying habits of South Africans in favour of locally made goods.
They can leverage the power of social media to start a social revolution that can usher in the re-industrialisation of labour-intensive sections of the economy such as manufacturing.
Contrary to popular belief, all of us have a role to play in stimulating economic growth.
Our youth can be catalysts for economic growth through the choices they make by being intentional in their purchasing decisions, voting with their wallets and opting to buy locally made products. It is estimated that there are 21 million young people in the country, and that is a market big enough to sustain and grow labour intensive industries that produce that which is bought by the youth as well as those products that are bought as a result of the influence that the youth has on what is ultimately bought in households and in businesses, in a lot of instances – think food and beverages (agro-processing), furniture, clothing, textiles, footwear and leather, creative arts, as well as the automotive industry, just to mention a few industries in which this market and its influence can be leveraged.
The ripple impact of supporting locally produced goods translates to our enterprises being able to scale up their businesses and employ more people.
This will, in turn, generate more tax revenue generated from the growing business and new employees, which government can use to fund public healthcare, education, safety, and other social and poverty alleviation programmes.
The modern economy is intertwined and connected; therefore, our support for local products has a domino impact throughout the value chain.
Buying locally made furniture or leather products, for example, benefits other adjacent businesses such as the agricultural sector where the raw material is sourced, as well as the adhesive, steel, and other related industries.
This means that the benefits derived from an innocuous act of buying locally made sneakers or a tablet cover are not only confined to the retailer or the seller but cascade all the way down the production value chain and help to preserve and create jobs.
Buying local, building skills, and supporting local industry are not just economic choices; they are acts of nation-building that honour the past while shaping the future.
Being an aesthetic and fashion-conscious generation, the clothing, footwear, and leather industries provide young people with a great entrepreneurial opportunity and the prospects to unleash their creative skills and flair to make a mark in the fashion world.
The manufacturing industry, in particular the clothing, textile, footwear and leather sectors, is facing severe pressure from the influx of cheap imports and proliferation of illicit goods. By honing their skills in these sectors, young people can be game changers by developing apparel that is distinctly South African, which can give them a great value proposition.
There is no shortage of creative geniuses in this country. MAXHOSA Africa provides a perfect example of how a local brand whose design DNA is anchored in South Africa’s unique culture has blazed a trail on international runways and carved a niche for itself alongside global fashion powerhouses.
The drive towards sustainability offers enormous opportunities for young people in the pulp and paper industry in South Africa, an industry where the FP&M SETA is actively involved in.
Learning best practice in the production of paper-based packaging products such as corrugated boxes, food packaging, and paper bags is a high-growth area.
There is also a growing appetite for eco-friendly and value-added paper products such as recycled notebooks and stationery, toilet paper, moulded fibre trays such as egg cartons and seed paper.
It is therefore very important for more young people to acquire skills that will enable them to start businesses in these industries, and the private sector has to actively engage and take up the opportunities available at the FP&M Seta.
I am not in any way suggesting that venturing into these industries will be easy.
Entrepreneurship is hard and fraught with challenges.
But equally, the rewards are very enticing and extend beyond the business owner who starts the business, as that is what will give more young people an opportunity to secure employment and develop much-needed lifelong skills.
We hope that as the country commemorates the courage of the youth of 1976, the young people of today will take lessons from the can-do spirit of previous generations to enable them to confront the battles of today.
Eustace Mashimbye, Proudly SA Chief Executive Officer.
Eustace Mashimbye, Proudly SA Chief Executive Officer.
Image: Supplied.
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