OPINION | POVERTY WAGES IS NOT THE DEMOCRACY MADIBA ENVISIONED FOR THE YOUTH OF THIS COUNTRY
- BEE NEWS
- Jul 23
- 3 min read
Vanessa Mpatlanyane | 22 July 2025
If we are to have a crime-free, reconciled and democratic SA, we must have an employable and employed citizenry.
That was the sentiment expressed in former president Nelson Mandela’s 1998 statement on the Jobs Summit. As we approach what would have been Madiba’s 107th birthday, one cannot help but reflect on our democracy as he envisioned it.
In the 1998 state of the nation address, Mandela drew attention to what was already a national crisis of unemployment. That this remains a crisis is not the democracy he imagined.
Few will dispute that the Mandela's words are as true now as they were then. If you were to ask any job-seeking graduate in 2025, what is left out is the need for not just jobs, but jobs that offer liveable and dignifying pay especially at entry-level.
For thousands of graduates, having a democracy without having a job feels like a contradiction. However, the common entry-level jobs (internships), though a small step up from unemployment, require transport, time and full-day availability for what amounts to glorified pocket money.
Meanwhile, in the background of these offers is the deafening silence about student debt, familial responsibilities and the real costs of being a young adult in SA today.
For many graduates and people starting in their careers, securing work is imagined as the beginning of regaining a sense of value and hope because it often comes on the back of months, sometimes years, of not hearing back from companies.
It is no wonder that when a positive response is received, all hope is reignited and progress becomes within reach. At least that is the sentiment and reality every graduate hopes for, but as things stand, that is far from the common experience.
Barriers to entry remain high and firm. Employers require driver’s licences, some demonstrable experience, polished skill sets and everything but what a fresh graduate fully possesses out of tertiary.
What are advertised as entry-level jobs turn out to be an exercise in realising that somehow the market existing in some parallel universe where socioeconomic inequality isn’t carried in language, the body, educational attainment or resourcefulness. The reasons to doubt, to be discouraged and disillusioned are endless. But maybe not all is lost.
I recently came across a job post aimed at graduates. A public entity in SA’s skills and training development sector put out an ad for an administrative data-capturing position. The advert was deliberate and dignified in tone. It didn’t refer to the position as an internship. It didn’t mention stipends or allowances. It used the word “remuneration” – a small but powerful green flag in a country where too many graduates are asked to work for “experience”.
What caught my attention was not only that the job exists – but more so the pay it offers. At a little over R23,000 per month, this role offers a semblance of dignity and that makes me feel unexpected relief. Too many similar roles demand the same qualifications and commitment while offering far less.
This job, on the other hand, does not seem tone-deaf. It shows awareness. It recognises that for many graduates, especially black first-generation graduates, employment is not just about starting a career – it is about relieving a household, uplifting siblings and becoming the long-awaited source of stability.
Sure, R23,000 isn’t near enough to sustain an entire family in today’s economy. But compared to the R4,000 internship trap that so many find themselves in, it’s a lifeline. It’s the difference between barely scraping by and finally stepping forward. It’s the first real sign of a future worth persevering for.
This type of compensation renews hope for youth hit hardest by application fatigue, rejection and the trauma of repeated disappointment. For many, job-seeking is not just demoralising – it’s expensive, isolating and triggering. Offers like these create a new emotional pattern: one where work might symbolise and enable dignity.
So much can be said about the failures of the democratic dream that Madiba had. More than 30 years on, admittedly, there is so much to cry over, complain about and fairly criticise. So many disappointments, so much distrust in public entities and so much hopelessness. But there is also opportunity to be so much more, do so much better and redirect the train.
That is why when we see glimpses of that, even small ones, we should name them, affirm them and push for them. Young graduates are often treated as political pawns, featured in speeches, hashtags, and manifestos, but forgotten in budgets and hiring practices. So, when public institutions and private companies act differently, when they lead instead of follow, they deserve to be acknowledged and we can only hope that it’s contagious.
‘Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’.