Johannesburg - The first blow to Martha Netshiozwe's future
came when her parents died of Aids. The second came when she ran out of money
and had to drop out of high school.
Netshiozwe, 23, is a product of the first post-apartheid
generation who entered a new and aspiring education system which aimed to heal
the economic divisions created by the white-minority government.
But like many, she left without the skills to qualify for
anything other than manual labour.
Despite pouring billions of dollars into education, the ANC
has little to show for its money except for public primary schools regarded as
among the worst in the world and millions of students destined for a life in
the underclass.
"If you don't have an education, you don't have a
chance in life," said Netshiozwe, who is unemployed with little prospect
of finding regular work. She and her HIV-infected aunt live together and scrape
by on about $100 a month in welfare benefits.
Nearly half of South Africa's 18 to 24-year-olds - the first
generation educated after apartheid ended in 1994 - are not in the education
system and do not have a job, according to government data.
Academics have called this group the "lost
generation" and worry it will grow larger unless the government fixes a
system riddled with failing schools, unskilled educators and corruption that
stops funding from reaching its intended destinations.
"This is an appalling waste of human potential and a
potential source of serious social instability," the ministry of higher
education said this month when it unveiled sweeping plans for boosting
university enrolment and improving vocational colleges.
The lost generation poses long-term risks for Africa's
largest economy, which is trying to grow its tax base as it funds increased
social spending.
There are about three people receiving social welfare
payments for each taxpayer. While the recipients of state funds are set to
increase substantially under anti-poverty programmes, the number of taxpayers
is not, which should cause already yawning budget deficits to widen.
Major rating agencies are also worried.
Fitch this month and Moody's a few months ago, downgraded
the outlook for South Africa, saying the government has not done enough to
tackle structural problems including chronic unemployment, growing state debt
and a broken education system.
Crippled by corruption
South Africa does not suffer a lack of plans or finances for
education, the largest sector of state spending and accounting for more than
20% of the budget.
The problems are with implementation.
Corruption eats away at money. Teachers are poorly trained
and challenged by a constantly shifting curriculum. Schools are often shut by
teachers' strikes.
There have been numerous changes for the better in the
ANC-run education system with more of the country's blacks, excluded from most
high quality education under apartheid, entering high-performing schools.
Once almost exclusively white, universities now reflect the
racial composition of the country with more people from groups disenfranchised
by apartheid climbing the ladder with a degree or diploma.
But at the same time, the number of people living in poverty
has changed little since apartheid ended, with no remedy in sight given the
structural problems in education.
"As things stand, the ANC is wreaking untold damage on
our children and, consequently, on the country's future, just as apartheid
education did in the past," said Barney Mthombothi, editor of the
influential weekly Financial Mail.
Hundreds of schools do not have electricity or running water
and absenteeism has become such a concern that President Jacob Zuma has begged
teachers to show up for classes.
A study by graft watchdog Transparency International last
year pointed to massive local level corruption resulting in millions of students
not having desks, chairs or books.
The central government has been trying to take over two
provincial education systems that are effectively bankrupt.
In Limpopo province, students started the school year in
January without textbooks even though millions of dollars had been allocated
for purchases, with media reports saying a politically connected figure may
have pocketed the funds.
This month, the central government said Limpopo, which has
recorded some of the country's worst results in standardised testing, had
unauthorised expenditure of R2.2bn. The province had more than 2 400 teachers
on the payroll, including 200 "ghost teachers" who were not in
classrooms but were still paid.
Ticket out of poverty
A university education is seen as the best ticket out of
poverty. Competition is fierce and at some of the top schools, there are about
10 applicants for each place.
The desperate demand for higher education led to a stampede
at the University of Johannesburg this month when thousands of applicants lined
up for a few hundred available places on the final day to submit paperwork.
"The lofty status of universities is an indicator of a
lack of status for any other alternative for post-school education," said
Frances Faller, an education expert at the University of Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg.
About eight in 10 unemployed have not completed secondary
education or just made it through high school. Only 6% of South Africa's
jobless have a university degree, a study from the South African Institute for
Race Relations showed.
The odds are also stacked against those who hope to find
entry-level employment. Economists say labour laws make it difficult for
employers who want to take on new workers and train them for jobs.
A cosy relationship between the ANC and organised labour,
formed in their partnership against apartheid, has hampered apprenticeship
programmes.
The ANC, which relies on the 2 million members of top labour
federation Cosatu as a source of votes, has put off plans denounced by unions
but backed by economists to reduce youth unemployment by allowing firms to hire
youths at cut-rate wages and train them up.
"We will never let them get away with making these laws
even more 'flexible' to allow even higher levels of exploitation," CosatuU
said in a statement.
ANC governments have spent billions of dollars on job
training programmes only to see large sums lost to corruption, while producing
few graduates with skills required by employers.
"I know what will happen to me if I don't get into
school," said university applicant Eddie Ncube, 18.
"Look at what I am exposed to. I am from the ghetto.
Without school, I will get into drugs and I'll never find a job."