16/06/2026
YOUTH DAY 2026 MEDIA STATEMENT
IHAWU COMMEMORATES THE YOUTH OF 1976 AND CALLS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR TODAY’S YOUTH
16 June 2026
The Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU) joins the nation in commemorating the bravery and sacrifice of the youth of 16 June 1976. The young people of Soweto marched against an unjust system and demanded dignity, equality and a better future.
Today, fifty years later, South Africa’s young people are once again confronting another form of injustice: mass unemployment, poverty, exploitation and exclusion from economic participation.
The painful reality is that the democratic South Africa that was meant to liberate young people has instead become a country where millions of young people remain without jobs and without hope.
According to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2026:
• The official unemployment rate among young people aged 15-34 stands at 45.8%.
• More than 4.7 million young people are unemployed.
• The unemployment rate among youth aged 15-24 exceeds 60%, making South Africa one of the countries with the highest youth unemployment rates in the world.
• Approximately 3.9 million young people between 15 and 24 years old are not in employment, education or training (NEET).
These statistics are not merely numbers. They represent shattered dreams, wasted skills and a generation that has been denied its constitutional right to dignity and meaningful participation in society.
For young people in the health and social development sectors, the situation is even more tragic.
South Africa faces a severe shortage of healthcare workers and communities continue to suffer from understaffed hospitals and clinics. Yet thousands of qualified health professionals remain unemployed. Recent reports indicate that there are between 20,000 and 30,000 qualified nurses who are unemployed, while approximately 1,800 doctors remain without work despite critical vacancies in public health facilities.
This contradiction is one of the greatest failures of our democracy.
Over the past few years, South Africa has witnessed numerous marches and protests by unemployed healthcare professionals:
• Unemployed doctors have repeatedly marched to provincial departments of health and Parliament demanding absorption after completing community service.
• Groups of unemployed nurses have staged demonstrations against the freezing of posts despite severe shortages in hospitals and clinics.
• Community Health Workers have marched nationally demanding permanent employment, decent wages and recognition as essential workers.
• Social workers and social auxiliary workers have repeatedly protested the lack of funded posts despite growing social challenges, including gender-based violence, substance abuse, mental health crises and child protection needs.
These protests are not acts of defiance. They are cries for dignity from a generation that has studied, sacrificed and qualified, only to be abandoned by the state.
Young workers in health and social development continue to endure:
• Unemployment despite severe shortages of healthcare personnel.
• Community service programmes that offer no guarantee of permanent employment.
• Casualisation and labour brokering.
• Exploitation through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and stipend-based employment.
• Community caregivers being sent into dangerous communities without transport, protective equipment, security or adequate remuneration.
• Delayed payment of stipends and salaries.
• Unsafe working environments and increasing incidents of violence against healthcare workers.
• Burnout, mental health challenges and excessive workloads due to chronic staff shortages.
• Lack of career progression opportunities and professional development.
• Gender inequality, with young women constituting the majority of workers in the care economy and being disproportionately affected by precarious work and poverty.
The healthcare system has lost tens of thousands of professionals over the past decade through resignations and migration, while newly qualified young professionals remain unemployed and unable to enter the system. This represents a catastrophic failure of planning and governance.
IHAWU believes that there can be no meaningful celebration of Youth Day while millions of young people remain unemployed and trapped in poverty.
On this Youth Day, IHAWU demands:
1. The immediate absorption of community service professionals into funded permanent posts.
2. The filling of all vacant posts in health and social development sectors.
3. The end of exploitative and precarious employment programmes.
4. The permanent employment and professionalisation of Community Health Workers and caregivers.
5. A comprehensive youth employment programme for healthcare and social development professions.
6. Increased investment in public healthcare staffing and social services.
7. Decent work, fair remuneration and safe working conditions for all young workers.
8. A national jobs plan that places young people at the centre of economic reconstruction.
The youth of 1976 fought for freedom and dignity. The youth of today are fighting for jobs, decent work and economic justice.
Their struggle is our struggle.
IHAWU recommits itself to organising, mobilising and fighting alongside young workers and unemployed graduates until every young person in South Africa has the opportunity to work, live with dignity and contribute to the building of a just society.
The struggle continues.
“Our Past Inspires Us. Our Present Unites Us. Our Future Belongs to Us.”
Issued by:
Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU)
Contacts:
Lerato Mthunzi | Rich Sicina
+27 (65) 823 0082 | +27 (60) 682-1672
[email protected]
A united, militant and democratic front of healthcare and allied workers, fearlessly defending the dignity, rights and wellbeing of those who serve at the heart of our health and social development department.
