Duminga K Ndala
On 16 June, the LPM Youth Command Element Commemorated Youth Day in Swakopmund under the theme #YouthMatters.
The day was inspired by the events of 1976, when young people in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest against the enforcement of the Apartheid Bantu education.
The LPM Youth Command Element saw it fit to commemorate Youth Day, also known as the International Day of the African Child to take stock of youth action support over the past 33 years, and to draw attention to continued youth struggles in this harsh economic environment. We undertook a review of where the youth stand now in terms of economic empowerment and advancement.
What is the situation that faces the public and private sectors in youth empowerment and advancement, and what kind of strategies are required to address them? It immediately became clear that the change that is required is fundamental.
The youth represent 36.8% of the total population (NSA 2018). They are also the most affected by poverty, unemployment and inequality. They are the most exploited class in the country. The legacy of the Swapo government of the last 33 years has been devastating for the youth. There has been job devastation, with more than 46.1% of unemployed youth. Even graduates are unable to secure decent jobs.
Another challenge has been the crumbling health care and education system, levels of violence against young women, escalating youth crimes and exclusion from economic policy.
Other challenges include oppressive economic policies, which continue to rest on austerity and inflation, targeting collateral as well as outdated and harmful decisions of keeping the youth out creatively from land resettlement, access to urban land and minerals, tourism and wildlife concessions.
Therefore, the challenges amongst the youth can be described as structural, and these policy defects pose a threat to our democracy, social cohesion and political stability.
The Arab Spring revolution is a perfect example of how young people influenced the political spectrum by demonstrating against continued unemployment, poverty trap and authoritarianism.
The major challenge is that institutions that are tasked to drive and promote the youth agenda are seen to be lagging in articulating and implementing policies and programmes that speaks to the realities of young people.
Institutions such as the National Youth Council (NYC) have become elitist institutions that are used by politically-connected young leaders as a ladder to go to Parliament and occupy strategic positions in the structures of the ruling party.
To avoid such pitfalls, the LPM tabled a Motion in the National Assembly in 2021, captioned ‘Comprehensive Integrated Youth Development Strategy (CIYDS)’.
The motion aimed to respond to contemporary challenges and opportunities facing the youth, but it was opposed without any reason whatsoever by the majority party.
Nonetheless, the LPM Youth Command Element still believes that the adoption of CIYDS, as a strategy to implement National Youth Policy, will help to enhance the ability of young people to access opportunities and deal with the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. The idea is that once successfully implemented, the CIYDS would assist in coordinating the efforts of different government offices, ministries or agencies focussing on the youth agenda.
The key to all the social malaises is to have a government that is intentional about prioritising the needs and interests of young people – a government that understands the class-analytic perspective of young people and is deliberate about improving the socio-economic status of young people.
The establishment of a National Youth Development Fund could be used as a tool to stimulate youth-owned businesses, promote digital skills, grow the economy and foster job creation.
Therefore, reflection is needed, especially among institutions that are tasked to promote the youth agenda, as the empowerment of young people in strategic positions cannot be overstated. A more conscientious, enthusiastic and radical youth sector is required to keep the government accountable for the promises they make – and lastly, the enforcement of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of youth policies must be intact to measure the desired outcomes.
*Duminga K Ndala is the Lead Youth Commander of the Landless People's Movement Youth Command Element. She holds a diploma in government studies and an honours degree in public management, and she is pursuing an LLB degree at Unam.