Last year I applied for the Times media scholarship. Thinking, hey this is ideal, its perfect for me - no prior work experience required and you're taken on as an intern to learn the ropes and then see how you fair...
I put my all into that application. I prayed about it every night. And I actually had a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, this is what I was waiting for. This is my opportunity. But, I was not good enough. The final date to be notified if you were accepted came and went. I heard nothing. And it was left to me to assume that I did not get a position for the internship. No, "we regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful" or anything. Just nothing. It would have been nice if they at least let me know it was unsuccessful and why. So that at least in the future I will know what to work on to better my applications and writing... But hey, they don't have the time to waste on us little people struggling out here for just a sliver of something.
So, this is the piece I wrote on the topic we were given. It was a bit of a difficult topic for me to write about as it's not my particular forte, but I did give it my all. So maybe you guys can give it a read and help me out... Let me know where I went wrong, what more I could have done, what I could have added or what I should have excluded, what I could have rephrased and so on...
Who cares? Politics,
Elections and SA’s young generation.
“Crippled by a faltering education system, and unable
to create and
sustain new jobs,
the
young – together with the
social context
they represent – have in the words of
the National Planning Commission (NPC) become
our ‘single greatest risk to
social stability’, ‘likely to rebel
if left with no
alternative but unemployment
and poverty’ and a potential ‘hazard and a lost resource to society’.”
– This is
how South Africa’s youth of today
are viewed, writes Lefko-Everett in the SA Reconciliation Barometer Survey: 2012 Report.
It’s now 19 years on
being a democracy
for South Africa and
the youth is
no longer made up
of those who
faced the “struggle”.
Apartheid is nothing
more than a history lesson to
the young generation
of today. Thus,
political parties can no longer rely
solely on loyalty based on
a common “enemy”
or “struggle”. The youth of
today expect more
than a government
that is riding
on the coattails
of the apartheid
struggle.
Despite the negative “common” view young
South African’s see themselves
as “confident,
active and creative” and “they are
optimistic about the
future”, according to the SA Reconciliation
Barometer survey. The young generation
of today see their
future as important
and their decision making would thus
be motivated by that
future.
On “SouthAfrica.info”, Motshwane, a grade
12
learner is quoted as
saying, “My vote
will most probably be motivated by what
I want for my future.”
What is the point of
investing one’s time and
energy in a government that puts
forward a vision
of a bleak
future?
According to Statistics SA “Between
Q4:2012 and Q1:2013
unemployment increased by 100
000 to 4.6 million resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate to
25.2%.” In the SAPS crime stats for
2012/2013 it states that “murder
increased by 0.6%”, “aggravated robbery increased by 1.2%”,
residential burglary “increased by 3.3%” and “theft out of or from
motor vehicles increased by 3.6%”. With
statistics like these one cannot
blame the common citizen, let alone
the youth, for becoming disillusioned by our political system.
When delving into political
matters it is of more
concern that the
involvement would be
to the betterment
of the nation
as a whole.
That one may be investing in a brighter future for
themselves and others
as well as
for future generations
(rather than sustain a system that
promotes instability for the
future).
In an article
on The Southern African NGO Network
(SANGONet), Lauren Tracey,
writes that some of
the youth “have
opted out of democratic processes such as elections
due to the disinterest
of the ruling elite
in responding to their
interests.” This is reinforced by 19-year-old
Thabiso who says
that, “There is
no need for
me to take
part in politics where everyone
thinks only of
his family and close
friends. Being a
comrade now is no longer
about the development of black
people or the country, but is all about personal gain”.
Tracey writes, “South Africa’s
youth is often seen
as a ‘lost
generation’; one with
no causes or political
purpose, an apathetic generation.” A generation
with
a “who cares” attitude. But is
this really
true? With the state
of South Africa at
the moment, more especially the political state, can
one really be
blamed for being
apathetic? (Where one has
to live in
the hope that
their one vote
MIGHT just make a difference against the masses of
votes…)
However, it might be
argued that South Africa’s young generation
does care. They
care about their future and the
future of their
country. They just
don’t care to
fight for these
causes in a system that is
against them.
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