The usually mundane annual debate on Youth Day in South Africa’s National Assembly couldn’t escape the allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa, with the EFF and ATM arguing that South Africa’s youth had no future with an alleged “money launderer” as the head of state. News24 reports that opposition speakers were quick to point out the youth’s myriad challenges – unemployment, barriers to education and gender-based violence that plummet them into lives of poverty, hopelessness and substance abuse – and blame the ANC government for these circumstances. The ANC, however, preferred to look on the bright side, saying that “South Africa is a better place than it was in 1976,” and that young people today live in a “prosperous society” while acknowledging though that “more still needs to be done”.
