Breaking Barriers to Youth Employment: Digital infrastructure at the heart of the solution

South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis remains a ticking time bomb, with more than half of citizens between the ages of 15 and 34 not economically active. Yet, at the 2025 Trialogue Business in Society Conference held in May at The Galleria in Sandton, stakeholders across the public and private sectors emphasized a critical solution: digital infrastructure as a transformative tool for youth empowerment.

Under the theme ‘Driving Impact, Inspiring Change’, the conference saw Telkom Group’s Chief of Corporate Affairs, Mpho McNamee, deliver a powerful address during a panel titled “From Classroom to Career: Unlocking Opportunities for South Africa’s Youth.”“While there are many pressing challenges in South Africa today, the need to invest in our youth remains a very high priority,” McNamee told delegates. “This is not just a statistic. It’s a crisis that impacts families, communities, and our nation’s future.”

Connectivity as a Catalyst

Telkom has firmly positioned itself as a driver of youth development through digital connectivity. Its CSI investments have delivered over 10,000 ICT-equipped learners in the last two years and trained around 2,000 teachers to integrate digital tools in classrooms.

“We believe that providing connectivity is about more than internet access. It’s about connecting young people to opportunities, starting with education and skills development,” said Judy Vilakazi, Head of the Telkom Foundation.

The company’s zero-rated online platform gives students free access to STEM resources, live classes, past exam papers, and tutoring—directly addressing the digital divide.

Youth Success Story in Focus

One such success is Kabelo Mthenjane, a Telkom programme beneficiary now working as a financial accounting intern at the company.

Mthenjane’s story underscores how comprehensive, well-timed support—ranging from ICT donations to career guidance and tertiary education funding—can change the course of a young person’s life.“Each moment of intervention helped me take the next step,” he said. “Without it, I could have easily fallen through the cracks.”

Mental Health: The Missing Piece

Yet, the panel emphasized that digital and educational interventions alone aren’t enough. Dumisile Nala, CEO of Childline, warned of the mental health toll borne by many South African youths due to childhood trauma.

“A traumatised child cannot engage,” she said. “Psychosocial support must start early and be sustained. Lives are continuous, so our support must be too.”

The Employment Bottleneck

Zengeziwe Msimang, Chief Communications Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, painted a stark picture of the employment transition gap: nearly 600,000 young people leave school each year without education, employment, or training.

She called for a dismantling of exclusionary labour practices—like requiring work experience for entry-level jobs—and advocated for more inclusive hiring models.

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“Employers need to shift from ‘betting’ on young people to investing in them,” she urged.

She cited costly transport, unrealistic expectations, and lack of professional networks as key barriers that digital infrastructure can help overcome.

Collaboration: The Road to Scale

The panelists agreed: solving youth unemployment requires coordinated, multi-sectoral efforts. Msimang highlighted the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention’s SA Youth Platform, which supports over 4.5 million young people, as a proof-of-concept for scalable public-private cooperation.

“There’s a lot happening in silos,” Msimang noted. “But scale is possible when we collaborate and work together.”

A Call to Action

The discussion closed with a unified appeal to South African stakeholders: focus less on fragmented efforts, and more on collaborative, systemic change. Addressing the youth unemployment crisis requires tackling mental health, education, employer attitudes, and connectivity—all at once.

“It’s not about imposing predetermined solutions,” concluded McNamee. “It’s about breaking down real barriers and investing where it counts: in our youth.”