Being Stuck in limbo: The state of South African youth

Published: 4 May 2026

Author: Sindisa Monakali, UWC Politics and Urban Governance Researcher

Over the last six years the state has not fully accounted for the missing learners in the education system: where are those scholars who started grade one 12 years ago but did not sit for matric examination, and are not employed or in other sectors of education. In 2014 almost 1,1 million learners started grade 1 but only 715 000 registered to write the matric exam in 2025, with almost 415 000 disappearing from the system. These unaccounted learners can also be disaggregated by race, class, and gender. For example, in the Western Cape 48% of Coloured youth between the ages of 16 to 18 are not in school.

How does this dropout rate affect society? 

There is a connection between unemployment and alcoholism. The majority of South Africa youth turn to alcohol either to gain something or to escape from something, as Carsyn Richins has shown in his article Alcohol and Substance Abuse Among Youth in South Africa. The connection between unemployment and alcoholism is captured clearly in a study of Zwelihle, a small township in Hermanus, where Larona Matte argues that factors such as unemployment, socialisation, and recreational spaces are prominent factors which led to the youth of Zwelihle to abuse alcohol. South Africa is a country where 45% of people between the ages of 15 to 35 are not in employment or in education. Increasing rates of unemployment, together with the fact that many young people do not qualify for higher education and training, are some of the factors contributing to alcohol abuse among youth.

Today, young people are not drinking alcohol because they are depressed but because they are oppressed and poor. To numb these harsh realities, alcohol stores become the easiest solution among youth. Many young people in South Africa between the ages of 18 to 35 years are in waithood – they are stuck in limbo. Waithood is defined by the United Nations as the stage where young people face delays in traditional milestones such as schooling, homeownership, jobs, and opportunities. The waithood of the youth is a state of uncertainty, hopelessness, and rejection from the system that is supposed to be working for them.

Being stuck in limbo also links to growing youth unemployment over the years. This adds to South Africa’s declining economic growth, which means there are not enough opportunities growing for young people. Firstly, this growing unemployment rate worsened because of the COVID-19 pandemic where a significant proportion of people lost their jobs, and employment industries closed business because of lockdown restrictions. Secondly, the recent study by Anthnony Masha and Thulisiwe Mdeni shows that South Africa’s youth unemployment has negative effects on social cohesion, increased distress, low self-esteem, and social unrest. Third, the transition of youth into the labour market has faced various challenges, stemming from deficiencies in education, skills level, and young people’s ability to secure jobs. 

South Africa’s Gross domestic product (GDP) has not grown enough to maintain or reduce the youth unemployment rate from where it is at the moment. The failure to create new jobs in both the public and private sectors for young people has resulted in growing unemployment in the country. This is both an economic crisis and transformation crisis. Duma Qubule argues that “South Africa needs to achieve GDP growth of 4% a year just to create jobs for the people entering the labour force by 2035”. Therefore, to avoid youth unemployment increasing beyond the current 45%, the economy needs to grow by 4%. This is a hard ask as the World Bank reported an average GDP growth of just 0.7% per year between 2014 and 2024. We have not grown the economy by 4% in recent years, which makes unemployment a contributing factor in the country’s wellbeing and development.

Despite high youth unemployment the government continues to decrease the budget for public services such as healthcare and education. In 2025, the Western Cape Department of Education cut 2400 teachers jobs, and this is mostly concentrated in township schools. This is a clear example of austerity budgeting, where education is not considered a priority despite its role in addressing youth unemployment and waithood. It is in townships where you find more alcohol outlets. For example, the case study of Zwelihle (mentioned above) reflects many poor South African townships that face the similar crisis. It is in townships where you find a greater risk of initiation of alcohol, this is especially for poor communities with limited infrastructure to keep young people engaged. Most young people are left behind.

We must use these challenges of youth unemployment and alcohol abuse to advocate for access to school, universities, and the job market and a clear plan to address the issue of young people who are not in higher education, training or employed. Let us begin with the crisis in basic education to make sure that there are opportunities after matric to prevent young people being stuck in limbo. 

The need for organising among youth people is more important than ever, and resistance against school dropouts, unemployment and alcoholism could unify the young, old, poor and marginalised classes of our society. Young people – unemployed youth and graduates, social movements (e.g. Equal Education), university students, young professionals, teachers, and grassroot movements – must unite. 

The first step is to strengthen the already existing education movements. A second step would be a call to stop the government budget cuts on education so that learners have more support and do not have to drop out due to lack of support and under-resourced schools. A third step could be the introduction of grassroots community projects to address joblessness and these should be issue based and meeting young people where they are based on skills. While young people have no job opportunities and in waithood, another approach might be a call for a universal basic income grant as a resource to access opportunities. The youth struggle in our society can be addressed if we can invest in intergenerational political education, state accountability, and grassroot organised resistance, and early childhood development to prevent high dropout rates in school.