Malema: ANC-led government has betrayed young South Africans over unemployment

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema told young South Africans the ANC-led government has betrayed their dreams, blaming corruption, patronage and exclusion for high youth unemployment.

Address at University of Limpopo lecture

Malema made the remarks while speaking at the Onkgopotse Tiro Memorial Lecture at the University of Limpopo on Thursday.

What he said about unemployment and lived realities

He lamented the scale of youth unemployment and the living conditions many young people endure. Malema criticised patronage and corruption as drivers of exclusion, saying:

“You watch people with political connections receiving opportunities while you remain unemployed, you watch tenders being awarded to the connected while your own small business is struggling to survive, you watch billions disappear through corruption while you are told that there is no money for education, no money for accommodation, no money for youth development and no money for employment.”

He described the effect on young jobseekers, warning that repeated rejection and prolonged graduate unemployment erode hope and expectations:

“There is a young person in this country [who] stopped applying for jobs because rejection has become so routine that they no longer expect a positive response; there is a young person who no longer believes that their qualification will change their life because they have watched graduates remain unemployed for years.”

Youth crisis described as political

Malema framed the problems facing young South Africans as a political crisis. He warned that destroyed hope leads to social and political withdrawal, saying:

“When hope is systematically destroyed, you do not simply become unemployed; you become alienated from society, you begin to withdraw from politics, you begin to believe that elections are meaningless, that politicians are all the same, that participation cannot change your circumstances.”

Consequences he listed

According to Malema, the fallout includes increased drug and alcohol use, crime, depression, emigration and psychological defeat. He urged readers not to condemn young people without considering what society has done to them, saying that for many each passing year brings more unemployment, debt, dependence and wasted potential.

Call to action

Malema encouraged young people to organise and resist systemic injustice. He said the EFF exists to represent youth struggles and urged young people to attend the party’s 13th anniversary celebrations in Thohoyandou on Saturday. He also encouraged them to register to vote in the upcoming local government elections.