An image taken at Mnxe High School in Cala in the Eastern Cape at an unknown date, showing pupils forced to use holes in the ground covered by temporary toilet seats, in front of others, to relieve themselves.
CAPE TOWN – The current government had yet to win over youth, concurred youngsters in Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town on Tuesday.
“Government has failed us. They have failed us in so many ways” said 16-year-old Khayelitsha resident Abenathi Mbontsi.
“There is an inequality among schools. You look at schools in Constantia and then you look at our schools. They have more resources.”
Mbontsi, who was attending a career expo in Mitchells Plain, said government had the opportunity to make things right.
“Currently, we only interact with other schools in our area. We never get to meet with better-resourced schools,” said Mbontsi.
“Government should ensure that every learner gets an equal education and that we all interact with each other so that we can learn from each other, share resources, share knowledge.”
First adress the inequality in SA, then we can speak w/ the same voice w/ white youth. They don&39;t face the challenges we face mos&39; @ndzavid
— Zimbali Mncube (@Zimbali_Mncube) June 16, 2015“I can say that the government has improved but I still think there’s a lack of textbooks, libraries, computers (and) books,” said 18-year-old Khayelitsha resident, Sinovuyo
Another young South African attending the expo, 18-year-old Keithen Bester from Lentegeur, said government needed to “start doing their job properly”.
“Government has failed me as a young person. They are not doing enough about crime and corruption in this country,” he said.
“They just aren’t acting on it. Get up and do your job properly.”
Bester said leaders needed to stop calling youth “the future” if they were not willing to create an environment where youngsters could reach their full potential.
They are constantly saying: ‘You are the future, you are the future’ but they are not helping us be exactly that.
Yamkela Nombewu, a 16-year-old, said the lack of housing and proper toilets in his township was government’s biggest failure.
“There are lots of communities that are suffering especially in Khayelitsha where some people do not have proper toilets.”
Nombewu did however commend government on what he viewed as its attempts to provide equal education.
“Education is something they’ve done right; trying to give us equal education,” he said.
Seventeen-year-old Mushfeeka Presence said government needed to reconsider its behaviour in Parliament.
“Their behaviour in Parliament makes us, as a country, look like fools.”
Vision2029: I want a child in Hammanskraal to receive the same standard of education as a child in Waterkloof.
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) June 17, 2015Presence said his biggest gripe with the government was inaction on corruption.
“All this corruption and fraud in government, that is what they have not done right,” she said.
Presence said perhaps it was time another country stepped in and directed government on how to correct its shortcomings.
“They should let other countries intervene in our government situation and get their advice,” she said.
