The revelation that the SAPS received over a million applications in three weeks for 5,500 basic police training vacancies for youth is confirmation that SA's unemployment crisis is deepening.
Prof Kedibone Phage, governance expert at the North West University, warns about a generation marked by a feeling of hopelessness, which the country 'has no way to address'. He said the mass response to a few thousand posts is an indication of the depth of desperation among SAs youth, calling it a national emergency.
'When more than a million young people scramble for basic training posts in the police, its not just about job-seeking, its a cry for help from a generation without hope,' said Phage.
It is actually a confirmation that we have an unemployment crisis and that we do not have a way of addressing it.
Its a ticking time bomb that needs the highest level of leadership to say: What are we going to do to prop up our economy so that we are able to cater for this challenge? he said. This is a call for urgent, strategic intervention ... not just in policing but in education, skills development, entrepreneurship, and long-term economic policy.