Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In January 2017, The Economist stated that the country’s schools are amongst the most inept in the world.2 Mother-language education in any language apart from English is under threat, as officials, politicians and even an increasing number of court rulings allege that mother-language education in effect benefits those receiving it, while denying access to children of other language groups and therefore cannot be tolerated. Despite the fact that South Africa is one of the countries with the largest budgets for education, the infrastructure is also insufficient to meet the needs of an increasing youth population. In Gauteng – the country’s central province and economic engine hub – there is a shortage of 195 schools, yet only 17 new schools have been built in the past two years. Proposed amendments to existing legislation entail taking away the responsibility and decision-making capacities in public schools from the community and instead concentrating all power in the hands of the Minister of Basic Education and his officials, despite the fact that public schools with actively involved parent communities are the most successful in the country. AfriForum is opposing this education bill. It is also involved in legal action to assist an indigent, rural community to get a school. Despite promises spanning decades, they are still waiting in vain for the school, with children having to walk distances of more than 10 kilometres to get to a school, cross rivers (even when they are in flood) and having no access to textbooks. These are but a few examples of the many problems typical to South African education. 2. Unemployment The country has an unemployment rate of 67,4% amongst the youth younger than 25. This rate is calculated using the expanded definition – in other words, not only including people actively seeking jobs, but also discouraged youths not actively seeking employment. Economists refer to this situation as a “national crisis”.3 For minority communities in South Africa such as the Afrikaner youth, the situation is even more gloomy, as racially based quotas are being applied to employment opportunities. Even though South Africa has entered a new political dispensation, affirmative action is being applied in the labour sector without any sunset clause, forcing local businesses and government institutions to use the national demographic compilation when appointing and promoting staff. As a result, 80% of the employment opportunities are allocated to black South Africans, 9% each to so-called coloured and white South Africans and 2% to South Africans of Asian descent.4 In provinces where specific races are more concentrated 2. 3. 4. https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sa-education-system-one-of-the-worst-in-the-worldthe-economist-20170106; https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21713858why-it-bottom-class-south-africa-has-one-worlds-worst-education. https://www.fin24.com/Economy/youth-unemployment-in-sa-a-national-crisis-economists20170807. https://www.enca.com/south-africa/concourt-victory-for-solidarity-in-key-affirmative-action-case; http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/race-discrimination-coloureds-are-on-their-own--so; 2