At the weekend, I was chilling in Kosmosdal at my cousin Derrick’s house when we were rudely interrupted by a stranger at the gate.
The stranger yelled: “Are you going to open for me any time soon so I can join your party or whatever?”
Before Derrick and I could respond, my hyperactive cousin Yazeed opened the gate. The stranger broke into song: “All I want to say is that they really didn’t care about us. Don’t worry what people say, we know the truth. All I want to say is that they don’t really care about us. Enough of this garbage ... All I want to say is ...”
Not too impressed, Yazeed put a stop to the Michael Jackson performance and asked: “What’s your name ... what exactly is your story?”
“My name is Damien van der Post, I am from Olievenhoutbosch,” declared the young man, somewhat proudly.
Olievenhoutbosch is a township in Centurion, close to Midrand, on the R55, and was established in 1990.
Damien calmly added: “I don’t want trouble. I am just asking for food and I will be gone, brothers.”
“Why must we give you something for free, and why are you singing that Michael Jackson song?” I asked.
Damien responded: “I wanted to remind you guys that the world is cruel and doesn’t care about us, the unemployed”.
He said even though he had a smartphone he remained “outside the digital world”.
Defeated, I went back into Derrick’s yard. Derrick’s wife offered Damien food. He soon left and we quickly forgot about the encounter with the jobless, hungry man — until Tuesday.
That was the day the Stats SA released its labour force survey for the first quarter of 2022, which shows that unemployment was highest among those aged 15 to 24 years, at 63.9%.
Damien’s interpretation of Michael Jackson’s song and his quip about the digital world neglecting him came back to me with a force I couldn’t ignore.
Even more concerning was the revelation by Stats SA that 370,000 jobs were added while the number of jobless youths was rising.
A closer look at the numbers indicates that the financial and agriculture sector recorded the most job losses in the first quarter, despite the growth of fintech, insurtech, and smart farming.
Could it be that workers who are leaving jobs from traditional banks, insurers, and farm work, are moving to fintech, insurtech and agritech companies?
Government promises to empower the youth seem to have been placed on the back burner. The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is touted as a panacea to youth job creation. On 9 April 2019, SA’s President Cyril Ramaphosa established a commission to investigate 4IR.
He set up a presidential commission on 4IR, which proclaimed: “We want to be a country where our people are digital citizens, our workforce is skilled and empowered, and our youth enjoy the transformative benefits of employment in a new world of work.”
Yet when it comes to upskilling young people, SA is not doing well, and the numbers prove it.
Looking at the unemployment figures, there’s little doubt that by 2030 SA will be a spectator, not a consumer, in the digital world. I guarantee you that we will not be creators of 4IR solutions and jobs. At this rate, SA will not use 4IR to end poverty and inequality in all its forms.
The unemployed like Damien are likely to be left knocking on doors to beg for a bite. SA youth still lack the advanced engineering and computer skills required for innovation-led prosperity. The absence of these skills also makes SA vulnerable to the disruptive effects of new technologies in the workplace.
A typical example is the SA Police Service which is not adequately equipped to deal with new forms of crime such as cybercrime — let alone housebreaking and other crimes.
So, how does the government expect SA to leapfrog to the 4IR world? Maybe SA’s economy, represented by the likes of Sandton, Menlyn, Century City, and Umhlanga, will do so. What is more certain is that Daggakraal in southern Mpumalanga, hometown of Pixley Ka Seme — a founding member of the ANC — will remain in the Dark Ages, without access to the digital world.
The skills gap is worsened by SA’s higher education curriculum that has yet to meaningfully embrace 4IR, except for sideshow courses that refer to it.
• Lourie is a former correspondent for Thomson Reuters, Business Report, Fin24 and Finweek magazine. He is also founder and editor of techfinancials.co.za.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.