Youth Submission to the APRM in South Africa 2020/2021

South Africa’s African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) civil society working group identified nine governance issues to be included in this submission: The first is youth political participation. Despite having a youth population of over 60%, young South Africans are consistently excluded from policymaking processes. Barriers to participation in government include the closed-list proportional representation electoral system, limited access to funding and tokenistic engagement by political parties. The second issue of social cohesion and inclusion has been difficult to achieve in South Africa, owing to the country’s legacy of racial segregation and oppression. Twenty-seven years into democracy, most South Africans believe there is still a need for reconciliation and have cited corruption and divisive politics as barriers. The third issue is peace and security. Violence, crime and instability are every-day features of life in South Africa, with youth often acting as both perpetrators and victims. While it is true that poverty, unemployment and inequality drive youth crime in South Africa, the severity of the violence signals the need for psychosocial interventions that challenge its normalisation in society. The fourth issue is health and social services. Although South Africa has an expansive social protection programme that reaches 17 million people every month, its implementation is slow and unsystematic. The programme also does little to protect vulnerable working-age adults, who may benefit from the introduction of a basic income grant. However, civil society believes that social protection should provide more than basic security and should also promote the holistic well-being of all. Economic empowerment remains a long way off for many citizens in South Africa. With a widening gap between the rich and poor, and a fragile middle class, South Africa remains one of the world’s most unequal societies. Effective institutional planning forms the backbone of government decision-making and is a primary tool with which to achieve strategic goals and objectives. Historical policies have led to the uneven distribution of land in South Africa. Although the NDP contains several ambitious ideas around land reform, their implementation has fallen short of expectations. The South African government has successfully improved access to education with almost 100% of children between 7 and 17 years attending an educational facility. However, current education outcomes are poor and are linked directly to race and income level. The last issue is climate change. South Africa occupies a unique position in the global climate crisis. While it is a heavy emitter with a high carbon footprint, it is also a developing country that still needs to grow economically in order to provide quality livelihoods to its citizenry