South Africa's political landscape has changed drastically since the 1976 youth uprising, and today's young people need to be given hope for the future.
This Youth Month, Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation's programmes coordinator, Shanti Maluleke, shares advice with her peers.
Born in Pretoria, raised in Johannesburg, and now living in Cape Town, Maluleke said opportunities exist in all three cities for young people who are open-minded and willing to seize them.
She works at the Foundation's house, at The Old Granary, in District Six. She commutes to the city daily with the Myciti bus from Blouberg.
Comparing Johannesburg and Cape Town, Maluleke said that Capetonians seem less open to expanding their social circles.
She said that Johannesburg had taught her resilience, and Cape Town had forced her to be introspective about what it meant to be young in South Africa today.
The most noticeable difference lies in the social fabric.
"In my experience, there is a certain warmth and openness among the youth in Johannesburg that invites people into new circles and spaces with ease. Finding that same openness in the Cape has, at times, been a challenge," she said.
Maluleke said that the city felt like a closed book, waiting for the right moment to open its pages to those not born and raised here.
"Yet, I have come to realise that both cities are brimming with opportunity; the real task is being open enough to see it," she said.
She completed youth programmes with her church. She recalled a mentor asking how many red cars they had seen on the road, en route to the class.
"Being on the road and being focused on getting to class, one would have missed the red cars and not seen any red cars, but that changes when you are told to look at the red cars as opportunities and to spot them en route home," she said.
"Once you start looking, you realise that they were there all along. You just have to change your focus," she said.
Her path to professional stability was not straightforward.
She struggled to find work, facing the silence of rejection letters for two years.
But Maluleke kept applying, kept showing up, and kept looking for those "red cars."
The three-month work readiness programme in Cape Town, in 2024, included mentorship and prepared her to say "yes".
Earlier this year, she started as an unpaid intern, and within three months, that unpaid role evolved into a contract, and from zero to a stable income.
"By simply showing up and being willing to learn, I proved that opportunities exist for those who are persistent," she said.
To today’s youth, navigating a world moving at a dizzying pace - thanks to the digital age and the rise of artificial intelligence - Maluleke's advice is simple: "do the radical work of hope".
She said that it may seem easy to feel that opportunities are scarce and to give up.
"We must keep doing the difficult work of believing that the economic landscape can improve. Our perspective matters. We must remember that 50 years ago, youth rose up to challenge injustice, catalysing events that changed our nation. We have that same power," she said.
Maluleke encouraged youth to register and vote in the local government elections on Wednesday, November 4.
"Use your voice. It is an act of protest, an act of activism, and a responsibility to the future we are all building together," she said.
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