Youth in the Western Cape paying the price for empty promises

As the Western Cape prepares for its own State of the Province Address (SOPA), we are yet  again waiting in agony for the polished speeches full of overpromises and plans that do not reflect the needs of the marginalised communities.

When the speech is being delivered, issues like youth unemployment, unsafe schools, inadequate infrastructure in schools and in communities, and the education system are far poorer and far-fetched than before. These issues seem to live in silence, in rooms full of ministers and premiers.

The percentage of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the Western Cape has remained unchanged over the last year. This is not because young people are apathetic, lazy, or disengaged. 29.3% of our youth in the province are NEET  because the system has failed them beyond a reasonable doubt.

Instead of meaningfully expanding youth employment programmes, strengthening skills development pathways, and investing in post-school support as envisioned in the National Youth Policy (2020 -2030), government responses remain fragmented, underfunded, and insufficient.

A province cannot claim progress while its young people are systematically excluded from economic participation. True development must be measured not by rhetoric, but by whether youth have real, accessible pathways into education, work, and sustainable livelihoods.

The reality is that these pathways are far more available to white individuals than they are to black and coloured youth from low-income communities. For these latter groups, even among those with tertiary qualifications, many are consigned to a state of waithood – a precarious mode of being that leaves them vulnerable to social ills.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a common issue that is deeply intertwined with the patterns of unemployment, poverty, and inequality in this province. The provincial government’s support services to victims of GBV remain woefully inadequate to offer any meaningful sense of safety in previously disadvantaged communities like Zwelethemba in Worcester, Phillipi, Delft, etc. Hospitals and Social Development Centres are under-resourced and understaffed, while required to cater to swathes of affected communities who live in townships in and around the outskirts of  Cape Town. 

On the other hand, the education budget in the Western Cape does not keep up with rising costs and growing learner populations. This is made worse by the Western Cape government’s incompetence – the WCED budget was reduced by R512 million during the adjustments period last year, largely because the department failed to spend its infrastructure budget.

This follows its deplorable decision to reduce its basket of posts by 2407 teachers in 2025. These are not decisions made solely due to national government funding shortfalls, but rather a political choice. Compared to other provinces, the Western Cape allocates less to education as a proportion of its equitable share revenue.

This restraint in funding gives birth to overcrowded classrooms, overworked teachers,  and a severe lack of support services. In a province that is highlighted by levels of violence,  poverty, and inequality, cutting education spending is not just short-sighted; it is dangerous. 

Since 2012, school safety has risen to be the most visible and frightening outcome of this neglect. In many communities in the Metro East, south and Metro Central, specifically the Cape flats, schools are no longer a sanctuary of learning and protection. Extortion is now a rising issue in schools, principals, and SGBs are being forced to work under fear.

Learners and teachers are exposed to violence not only on their way to school or in their communities, but also within school premises themselves. Yet you never see these lived experiences centred when provincial leaders address education outcomes. 

The safety issue is a community issue that becomes a school issue by virtue of that school being in that particular area. Communities such as Kraaifontein,  Crossroads, Strand, Khayelitsha, Delft and Mfuleni continue to have inadequate infrastructure, burst drains, overflowing sewage, and neglected sanitation systems.

These are not minor issues but a public health emergency that undermines dignity, learning, and community wellbeing. Children cannot concentrate in classrooms while enduring the smell of burst drains outside their classrooms. Families cannot thrive when basic services collapse, 

Thousands of learners in the Western Cape walk to school every day. Out of those, thousands of learners walk more than 8km to different areas to get the so-called better education. These learners are at risk of getting robbed, killed or being sexually violated. They are also at risk of getting hit by cars because they walk next to the national roads and Main roads. The  Western Cape government seems to neglect these children, because they seem to think that as long as a child gets admitted to a school, all other issues are not their responsibility.  

We highlight our plight in a call for the Premier to deliberately factor our communities into his SOPA and into the Western Cape government’s policies. It is unconscionable that this province is one of only two in the country where inequality rose between 2015 and 2023. It is even more deplorable that this province is home to the worst rate of inequality in South Africa. Resolutions and solutions to these issues should be what we, as the residents of the Western Cape, hear when the speech is being delivered. 

* Bayanda Ndumiso, Head of Province, Western Cape

*Simamkele Mashiqana,  Equal Education’s Junior Organiser