I watched with attention recently as my esteemed colleague from TV news network Newzroom Afrika Ziyanda Ngcobo interviewed Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK Party) president and former head of state Jacob Zuma.
Just before the end of that interview, Ngcobo asked Nkandla’s most famous son a question. “At 82, you have had your time; why don’t you allow young people to lead and run the country?”
Zuma retorted: “Have they displayed how they can lead the country, the young people? Why don’t we have young people who are acting like me now (shaking the political tectonic plates), if they are capable of doing so? I sat for a number of years after retiring. And the country was going down with your young people doing nothing.”
Ahead of the Youth Day commemoration on Sunday, Zuma’s response had one in deep thoughts. Thoughts about what we, as young people of the country, have done to liberate and advance our cause since the dawn of democracy.
Today’s youth have nothing to offer
The answers to the many questions that were racing in my mind were too scary and earth-shattering to contend with.
I’m afraid I must point out from the outset that we have done nothing as young people. We’ve done nothing to demonstrate that we are worthy of leading this country to prosperity.
And sadly, this happens all the while South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world is getting younger and younger by the year.
There is a glimpse of hope elsewhere, in the first world and up north in Africa. But ours is South Africa. It is regression, and the old guard are tightening the grip, taking us for a ride and pretending to care about a future they will not be part of.
What is more concerning is that if we take the current ANC old guard leading the country and that political party as an example, it is populated by people who started leading when they were young.
Uninterested in changing the world
The difference between them and the youth of today is that they were organised for the right cause of changing the world. We are only organised for the cause of moral decay and degeneracy.
Incumbent ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa became the party’s secretary-general at age 38. Prior to having been leading the National Union of Mineworkers from his early 30s.
Zuma himself and former president Thabo Mbeki were seasoned ANC leaders in their 30s along with Ramaphosa. Together with others, they were central to the Codesa negotiations that brought about the democratic breakthrough.
But nowadays, a Fikile Mbalula becoming the ANC administration boss at age 51 is celebrated as a victory for ANC young leaders.
In the corporate world, at 51, he would be nine years from retirement. How is someone his age even considered a victory for young people?
Such is the desperation of a disorganised youth that has no defined mission and objectives. Not even about problems that confront them directly, as a group with the power of numbers on our side.
If we were organised as young South Africans, we could get anything that we want. This includes, but is not limited to, being president of the country.
Just in recent history, France’s Emmanuel Macron was 40 when he rose to the summit of that country’s highest political office.
Burkina Faso and Mali are leading Africa’s youth brigade
Here in Africa, the winds of change are blowing, with young people taking charge of their destiny by hook or crook. In this regard, President Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso and President Assimi Goïta of Mali are two cases in point. Despite the unconventional ways with which they took power, they did something about it. They did so instead of endless whining like we do down here in the southern tip of the continent.
The Traores of this world realised that their countries were going off the rails. With the old guard misleading from the front in protection of imperialist interests, they seized power by force in pursuit of the struggle for decolonisation.
The South African young person just wants to lead. But they cannot clearly state and define what change they will bring about once political power is in their hands.
In fact, most take pride in being “pick me’s” and sell-outs to the old guard for narrow self-serving and material accumulation purposes.
A case in point: Where are the Fees-Must-Fall generation of “leaders”? Most were captured and swallowed by the political establishment that serves the old guard. While the ones who genuinely believed in that struggle were left isolated. They were eventually pushed to the periphery of the political arena. A harsh lesson about championing a cause where some are in it for career-creation intentions.
Go to Giyani, Nongoma, Mthatha, Botshabelo and Soweto and attend any “community meeting” organised. These meetings are held in venues during weekends in search of answers for immediate community problems.
What are the chances of finding young people at those meetings about substantive issues that affect their immediate communities? They are as good as finding a born-again Christian at a bottle store, in broad daylight.
Voice of youth in current political discussions is silent
As things stand, the country is battling with the question of a coalition government following the hung national election outcome. The voice of young people is evidently missing. A self-inflicted injury by people who will inherit the country soon.
But go to Konka in Soweto, Max Lifestyle in eMlazi, KwaJeff in Mdantsane, Cubana in Bloemfontein. Check out any social media dance challenge. Young people will be there in large numbers. And many who are not there will be suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out), while shuffling their phone screens to catch up on the latest gossip.
That, sadly, is the quality of the South African youth of today.
When social and moral degeneracy is the order of the day, we are first in line. But when nation building and shaping the future through meaningful contribution is required, we are nowhere to be found.
Back to Zuma’s question on whether young people have displayed capacity to lead the country to prosperity. The answer is a resounding “we have nothing to offer, we have a TikTok dance challenge to create and Konka beer hall to fill-up”.
I’m certain our children and their children will inherit TikTok dance challenges and the tons of beer we indulge in every weekend.
