(The following DA Motion debate was delivered during a Sitting of the KZN Legislature held today)
I rise today – not only as a public representative – but as a young South African whose generation carries the heaviest burden in our democracy. The truth is stark: South Africa has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world with the most recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey showing youth unemployment rose from 44.6% in the last quarter of 2024 to 46.1% in the second quarter of 2025. If we take the expanded definition, that figure climbs to 56%. This is not just an economic indicator – it is a social catastrophe.
Each percentage point represents a life stalled. A graduate with no prospects, a mother hustling to feed her child with no support and talented young South Africans leaving our shores because opportunity has been suffocated by government’s failure.
Today’s Democratic Alliance (DA) Motion is therefore about accountability, urgency, and honesty. If KZN’s Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) is truly to “develop” our economy, then we must see bold reforms that attract investment, unlock growth and match youth aspirations with meaningful economic output.
- Where is the intervention at ArcelorMittal in Newcastle?
- Where is the engagement with PRASA to revive our railways?
- Where is the plan with Transnet to fix our ports?
These are the real levers that can create jobs for the youth of our province.
The DA also demands accountability on the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI). While it has placed young people in short-term school contracts, what happens when those contracts end? What skills are transferred? Where is the pathway into sustainable work? Right now, too many young people are being cycled in and out of temporary placements, while dependency and hopelessness remain.
Equally, government’s Youth Empowerment Fund and similar initiatives lack transparency. Are they achieving real impact? Are they aligned with KZN’s growth agenda? Or are they simply recycling the language of empowerment without measurable outcomes?
Given the many outstanding answers and our growing concern, the DA calls for a Provincial Youth Employment Task Team, to be led by young Members of the KZN Legislature. This task team must unite the departments of EDTEA, Education, Public Works and Agriculture under one umbrella – because youth unemployment is not the problem of a single department. It is an existential crisis. Unless KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity – of which the DA is a partner – acts decisively, our province will remain trapped in poverty, crime, and despair.
The DA believes in real, practical solutions;
- An opportunity economy, where young entrepreneurs are freed from red tape and given the tools to succeed
- An education system that equips learners with modern skills – coding, trades, digital literacy and entrepreneurship – aligned with a dynamic economy and;
- A partnership between government and the private sector, to create jobs by opening markets and restoring investor confidence – not destroying them with corruption, cadre deployment and outdated policy.
This is not a moment for platitudes. If we fail our youth, we fail our province. If young people continue to be locked out of opportunity, government is not just failing them – it is trampling on the very future of our province.