Why have women and youth leadership failed to fight for their Human Rights?

Galetlolwe Semenya 

The true essence of Human Rights in African philosophy is centred around “Botho/uBuntu”, where all society members have equal access to basic needs to sustain a long and healthy lifestyle.

After 30 years of Democracy in South Africa, where the Apartheid regime was seemingly demolished and suffocated due to the various atrocities from 1913 to 1993, unfortunately the Apartheid Regime principle has been diabolically transformed into a new Human Rights Oppressor called “Discrimination”, which now attacks the youth and the women population.

As history dictates, South Africa has truly achieved partial political revolution and freedom through the blood and sweat of highly conscious women and youth leadership in the past who were in the forefront of the Apartheid massacre machine.

The role of women

Without excluding the other gender who contributed to the fall of Apartheid regime in government, the truth is still distorted about the role women and youth played in the revolution of political power in South Africa.

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2022, gender parity is not getting better, which begs the introspection question towards women and youth as the natural triggers of change for equality and revolutions. With the rising global crises, it is women and youth who are often called to start selfless-revolutions when the governance is worsening and threatening the Human Rights of their households.

The high calibre of politically inclined women and youth in leadership has diminished over time, especially post-1994. The South African Democracy no longer has women like Mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela and youth leadership like Tebogo “Tsietsi” Mashinini who literally held the raging Apartheid bull by the horns, fighting for just Human Rights of the indigenous people of South Africa.

Unfortunately, the real stalwarts of Human Rights Revolution must be turning in their graves to witness the rot amongst today’s women and youth leadership, where elderly women in powerful leadership positions have lost the fire that was driving the likes of Mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela, and instead they feel threatened by the educated youth leadership and revert by oppressing them to guarantee their own future and personal agendas.

As indicated in Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), Labour Force Participation Rates for women increased across all education levels except for those with other tertiary qualifications, who experienced a decline of 1 percentage point. Women with graduate qualifications saw the smallest increase in unemployment, rising by 3.8 percentage points over the decade.

In quarter two 2024, their unemployment rate stood at 10.7%, which is higher than the 8.3% observed among men with similar qualifications. These statistics are the very triggers that should have galvanised women of today to be like Mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela and refuse to be a negative perpetual statistic over 30 years of Democracy without a significant change in key decision-making positions of power in the government, business, and society institutions.

Whereas the youth leadership have seemingly lost foresight of their future by not clearly articulating their vision and ideology entrenched with the essence of enterprise culture and economic empowerment.Stats SA emphasises this phenomenon through these statistics where a significant portion of South African youth, particularly those aged 15-24, live in poverty.

Youth leadership today

Contrary to the youth of today, the Apartheid regime youth experienced worse conditions of poverty and managed to galvanise themselves to develop ideologies that could ]emancipate themselves out of the chains of poverty amongst other social ills. The Apartheid regime youth was capable of overcoming the adverse conditions and fought relentlessly for their Human Rights.

Another classic case of youth leadership and pioneering the future of the country is the educated, youthful, effervescent President of Burkina Faso, HE Ibrahim Traore, who spearheaded the political and economic transformation within a short space of time in comparison to his counter African Presidents who are significantly older than him.

On the 7th January 2025, during President Mahama’s inauguration in Accra, President Traore was honoured with the loudest applause among all the 21 African heads which signified the levels of confidence from the audience, especially among the youth. As in most societies, there is no doubt that the top leadership in organisations opposing apartheid and racism has been depicted as being led by men.

Contrary to what the archives are showing, especially in South Africa, women were present and were the ones that highlighted the primary issues that were central to the violation of Human Rights. The same can be said about youth leadership that opposed apartheid. Women and Youth Leadership of South Africa still require to introspect their tapestry and identify where they have been failing to fight for their Human Rights collectively just like their predecessors, instead of pointing fingers outside their circle of responsibility, accountability, and capability to lead for a tangible revolution against being discriminated against.

The current Women and Youth Leadership of South Africa must be reminded that the strategic intent of Apartheid was to implement and maintain a system of legalised racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Today Women and Youth Leadership have been discriminated against humanity, hence the need for a case to revive the unbought and effervescent spirit of previous Human Rights activists to overthrow the Apartheid regime. It’s time for the Women and Youth Leadership of South Africa to start fighting winning battles that position them into powerful authority to restore the uBuntu principles for Human Rights as per the predecessors. “Aluta Continua”

Galetlolwe Semenya holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Wits University), and other qualifications in Engineering and Business Science. She wrote this in her own personal capacity as a public professional servant with 18 years of railway experience and knowledge in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, France, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

​*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.

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