ANCYL wants more youth in politics

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has called for more youth to get involved in South Africa’s politics in the light of a new survey showing their participation had dropped and the country lags behind in youth development.

The 2020 Global Youth Development Index, released this week by the Commonwealth Secretariat, ranked South Africa 131st out of 181 countries surveyed.

This placed SA just 50 places above Niger, which is ranked last. The survey ranked nations according to the developments in ANCYL wants more youth in politics youth education, employment, health, equality and inclusion, peace and security, and political and civic participation.

It looked at 27 indicators including literacy and voting to showcase the state of the world’s 1.8 billion people between the age of 15 and 29. The ANCYL welcomed the fact that the index showed an improvement in the state of young people across the globe.

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“Although the improvement is marginal in most developing countries such as ours, we also take stock of the fact that the Covid disease has affected young people the most as development opportunities have been adversely affected by the global pandemic,” said Nonceba Mhlauli, convener of the ANCYL national task team.

“We are also concerned that youth participation in politics is the only domain to record a decline in most parts of the world. Africa is the youngest continent, with the median age being 19.”

Mhlauli said since the youth make up the majority of the South African population, this required young people to participate in the political life of their countries as they are the sole beneficiaries of such a country. “As the youth league, our task is to mobilise young people to become active participants in the development process of their countries.”

The index further revealed that the conditions of young people had improved around the world by 3.1% between 2010 and 2018, but progress remains slow. It showed that of the 181 countries, 156 recorded at least slight improvements in their scores.

Topping the list were Singapore followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark. South Africa, in 131st spot, managed to beat countries such as Chad, Central Africa Republic, South Sudan and Niger, which was right at the bottom.