Have you ever been stuck in a routine you didn’t want to be part of? Not influencer skincare routines, but one you dread because you feel like you don’t know what else to do. For eight months, my life was a cycle: wake up, scour job sites, send out applications, and wait. And you know a system is broken when people say “at least it was 8 months” and start comparing it to their “own unplanned retirements” or stories of friends who were jobless for years.
What people who’ve never struggled with unemployment don’t realise is how others – maybe without meaning to – can ‘dumb you down’. “Uya applya phof?” (“Are you even applying?”). Or the ones who should just stay quiet: “Just start a business,” or “The jobs are there, you’re just not looking.”
People don’t realise how sensitive everything feels when you’re unemployed – mostly because of shame. The shame of asking your sibling for money for toiletries. The shame of calling home when you know there’s nothing there. The shame of watching your classmates progress – not because you envy them but because you wish your own life showed progress too.
This was my reality through and through.
And twisted as it feels to admit, at least it was only eight months. I know people who’ve been at home for years, some still searching to this day. Some are past 35, officially aged out of “youth” statistics and with even fewer options. Some have even started eyeing G4S, SBV and Fidelity vans with a “Mhhm? I wonder…” look. It’s a joke, yes, and I’d never promote crime, but hopelessness has a way of turning jokes into reality. It’s even more frustrating when politicians enrich themselves while you’re sending 50 CVs a day. When someone’s fed up with the system, appeals to morality stop working. And admitting a desperate reality doesn’t mean you’re condoning it.
I always find it funny how people who’ve never lived a day in the life of an unemployed young South African come up with these ‘genius’ solutions no one else has thought of: start a business, go volunteer. Mhhm, maybe I should, right?
These ‘just start a business’ lines sound logical. At first it was people I knew saying them, and even that was hard to take. But after 245 days at home, hearing politicians repeat the same thing just pissed me off. That’s when I saw it for what it really was… a dangerous trick of logic, designed to blame us for a catastrophe we didn’t create.
The tool our leaders and commentators lean on is called deductive reasoning in mathematics. You might not know the term, but you’ve used it: “If this is true, then that must follow.” I’ve used it in my IT work – it’s the core of an ‘if statement’ that makes code work. It’s a powerful engine for finding truth. But like any engine, it spits out garbage if you feed it garbage. And when the ‘garbage’ is a lie about us, that tool becomes a weapon.
For example:
- The Lie: If you are unemployed, you are lazy.
- The “Logic”: You are unemployed.
- The Conclusion: Therefore, you are lazy.
The mathematical logic seems to check out. But the first statement is a brutal oversimplification. It ignores the hundreds of applications. It ignores the upskilling, the networking. It ignores the core truth: you can’t win a race if your starting line is miles behind everyone else’s.
The most common lie we’re sold is about job creation. The argument goes: “If the economy creates jobs, unemployment will fall. If unemployment isn’t falling, then jobs aren’t being created.”
This is perhaps the most damaging logic because it’s half true. The fatal flaw is that it ignores the kind of jobs being created. The world has charged headfirst into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It’s no longer a distant future – we’re living it now. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report highlights that AI and automation are displacing millions of routine jobs right now. Those future jobs are in robotics, data analysis, renewable energy, digital content creation.
So where’s the massive, urgent, national plan to skill us for these jobs? We are being prepared for the economy of 1994, not 2034. We are being taught to type on typewriters while the world uses ChatGPT. Without a radical, state-driven push to upskill youth in modern technologies, we aren’t just being left behind… the government might as well admit we’re being deliberately excluded from the future.
Here’s the reality: according to a 2024 SABC report, the average Member of Parliament in South Africa is 50 years old. Meanwhile, 62.4% of us under 35 are unemployed. How can people who’ve never had to send a CV understand the desperation of a graduate searching for a job for five or ten years? How can they create policies for a future they won’t even live in?
When a system offers no hope, people create their own. That’s why crime is rising. That’s why betting companies are everywhere. I don’t like being pessimistic, but unless youth unemployment is treated as the crisis it is, things will get worse. You don’t solve problems with hope. You solve them with plans that empower people. You don’t start 18-month YES programmes, cycle out interns, and call that solving unemployment.
For context: in the year ending March 2024, South Africans spent R1.1 trillion on gambling. That’s more than the budgets for health and education combined. I’ll never advocate for gambling – but can you blame people? Sometimes you need to put aside your perfect morals and stand in someone else’s shoes. Desperate times push people to desperate choices. And when the legal lottery of the job market feels rigged, the literal lottery starts to look like a plan.
“Just start a business” is another logical fallacy. Honestly, most young people are tired of hearing it. It ignores the lack of capital, the fear of failure, and – most importantly – the urgency. We need a paycheck this month to help our parents and buy food, not the luxury of “being patient” while a business runs at a loss for a year, breaks even after two, and only turns profit in year four. Which family can wait for that?
And I’m not against entrepreneurship. In fact, I think it’s the best path for most of our youth. But context matters. For black graduates, the pressure is heavier. A degree was supposed to be the ticket to lifting an entire family, yet it’s nothing more than a receipt for debt. A debt we can’t repay. A debt we might now even be blacklisted for.
We don’t have to look far for proof of what investment can do. Why is South African rugby world-class? Because of a system: Craven Week in high school identifies talent, Varsity Cup polishes it, and the path to professionalism is clear. France, Germany, and England pour billions into football academies – and they reap the rewards for decades.
The lesson is simple: consistent investment in youth equals a strong future. We don’t have a youth problem; we have an investment problem. We have a corruption problem that siphons money meant for schools, labs, infrastructure and funding opportunities. We have a leadership problem that’s decades out of touch.
Here’s the real, logical argument we should be making:
- The truth: If a country invests in modern education and skills for its youth, it will thrive.
- The logic: South Africa is not seriously investing in modern education and skills for its youth.
- The conclusion: Therefore, South Africa is choosing not to thrive.
We are not lazy. We are not lost. If anything, we’re angry that supporting your family feels like a privilege. And most of us aren’t asking for millions. We just want to make a living and support our families. That’s all.
I guess this is just a rant from the abyss. But until the logic changes, what else is left?
South African Parliament. “Unemployment crisis takes centre stage in Employment and Labour budget debate.” Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, 2024. SABC News. “Youth representation in parliament lacking.” SABC News, 2024. The World Bank. “Access to education, skilled jobs creation can accelerate poverty reduction and inequality in South Africa.” World Bank, 3 Apr. 2018. World Economic Forum. “The Future of Jobs Report 2023.” World Economic Forum, May 2023. Gopaul, Lavan. “South Africa’s R1.1 trillion spend on gambling: Is this a crisis, an economic boon or a social catastrophe?” IOL/The Post, 3 Jul. 2025. “Growing concerns over potential blacklisting of student debtors.” Cape Town ETC, 2025.
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© Phumzile