Despite apartheid’s end, S Africa’s young grapple joblessness

Despite apartheid’s end, S Africa’s young grapple joblessness

SOWETO: Thirty years ago apartheid laws in South Africa were formally struck down, bringing a dizzying jolt of hope to millions of disenfranchised citizens. But today that optimism has all but fizzled out, particularly among the young. The "Born Frees“-those who came into the world after the end of apartheid and comprise roughly half the population-are struggling.

Two out of three young people are jobless, victims of endemic unemployment that shows no sign of abating under the African National Congress (ANC) government that has been in power since the first democratic elections in 1994.

Many say they are battling to see the benefits of this seismic event, which came just under three years after then president F. W. de Klerk struck down the country's last segregation statutes. "We wish to do what is right for South Africa,“ de Klerk had told parliament at the time.

Disillusioned, the young in present-day South Africa say the better life they were promised has been clouded by despair. "I wonder what those who have struggled and sacrificed would think,“ 21-year-old law student Tumelo Dire said outside the Hector Pieterson memorial, which commemorates the struggle against apartheid by students in Soweto.

Thanks to a government scholarship grant, his university