2013 05 Perspectives Africa 1.13

7/30/2019 2013 05 Perspectives Africa 1.13

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PersPectivesPolitical analysis and commentary from Africa

#1.13

Movers and shakers?Youth andPolitical changein arica


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2 Heinrich Bll Stitung

h B aThe Heinrich Bll Foundation, associated with the German Green Party, is a legally autonomous and

intellectually open political oundation.

Our oremost task is civic education in Germany and abroad with the aim o promoting inormed

democratic opinion, socio-political commitment and mutual understanding. In addition the Heinrich

Bll Foundation supports artistic and cultural as well as scholarly projects, and co-operation in the

development feld. The political values o ecology, democracy, gender democracy, solidarity and non-

violence are our chie points o reerence. Heinrich Blls belie in and promotion o citizen

participation in politics is the model or the oundations work.

Our programme areas in Arica are:

n Democracy

n Sustainable Development

nHuman Rights

n International Politics


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Heinrich Bll Stitung 3

c

Editorial 3

n Youth in Arica: A Political Force?

Alcinda Honwana 6

n Interview

Youth and the Future o the Occupy Nigeria Movement

Azeenarh Mohammed 10

n Senegal: Youth Vs the Old Guard

Hamadou Tidiane Sy 12

n South Arican Youth: A Threat to be Feared or a Future to be Cherished?

Brutus Malada 15

n Interview

The Politics o Gender in South Arican Youth Politics

Vuyiswa Tulelo and Shireen Hassim 18

n Youth and Politics in Kenya: Vanguards or Vandals?

George Omondi Okongo 21

n Elections

Politicians Went Sheng to Woo Kenyan Youths

Joyce Chimbi 24

Zimbabwes Politics: Out with the Old, In with the New

Ignatius Banda 25

n Interview

We know the world is not run in our interest

Alaa Abdel Fattah 28


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In response to the youth-led Arab Spring in

2011, Arican youth have received renewed

attention rom policymakers, economists and

the media alike. Arica is the worlds youngest

continent, with people under the age o 35

constituting about 65 percent o the population,

according to the Arican Union. Unortunately, much

writing on the topic mobilises binary images that

label youth as either an asset the demographic

dividend, the continents most valuable resource

or a liability: a demographic time bomb. Such

discourse does not only gloss over the complex

realities and dierent contexts Arican youths nd

themselves in, it also tends to ignore the agency that

young Aricans have and ails to ask what it is that

they want and to what extent they are able to realise

their aspirations.

Even though the continent may be rising, asour Arican countries rank among the ten astest

growing economies o 2013, it is clear that speed

is not everything and that the majority o Arican

youth continues to ace dicult socio-economic

conditions. In the words o Alcinda Honwana,

many young Aricans nd themselves in a state o

waithood deprived o the opportunity to become

economically independent adults by the lack o

decent jobs, bad governance and unavourable

international trade relations.

Despite these challenging conditions, young

Aricans evidently are not just sitting around.

They try to make ends meet with whatever work

they can nd and many have become politically

active, either in street protests or through more

ormal engagement countering the perception o

apathetic youth.

Against this backdrop, this edition o

Perspectivesseeks to shed light on a number o

related questions. What rustrations are causing

the youth to turn to the streets? How do they

mobilise today? Are conventional politics and

parties able to attract young people or do they seek

alternative ways to engage? How does their political

participation maniest? Have they been successul?

Are the youth a political orce?

Judging rom these refections on protest

movements such as Occupy Nigeria and Senegals

Yen a marre(Enough is enough!), and to some

extent on the struggle by the Egyptian youth ater

the all o President Hosni Mubarak, it seems that

transorming the oten reactive expressions o

youth discontent into pro-active, programmatic and

sustained political action that can infuence national

politics is one o the greatest challenges. On the

other hand, where the youth have become part o

the ormal party political system (as in Kenya) or

have been or some time (South Arica), they have

yet to show that they stand or a dierent kind o

politics with a greater vision than the old guards

pursuit o wealth and patronage.

What appears common to all young people

when they decide to engage in politics is that

breaking through the hierarchical and patrimonial

governance order that has historically precluded

their participation in decision-making in most

communities in the continent (and indeed the

world) is a slow and gradual process.

By providing these and other insights on youth

politics and youth in politics rom various countries

across the continent, we hope to help expand

the debate on Aricas youth beyond questions o

economic outlook and risk management.

Layla Al-Zubaidi

Regional Director

Jochen Luckscheiter

Programme Manager

e

Y P c a


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Y a:A Political Force?

Indeed, young Aricans are

again being increasinglyrecognised as active agents o

social and political change.

and to challenge the status quo. Indeed, young

Aricans are again being increasingly recognised as

active agents o social and political change.

W

The notion o waithood encompasses the

multiaceted nature o the transition to adulthood.

It goes beyond securing a job and is extended to

various aspects o social lie and civic participation.

While waithood may suggest a sense o passivelywaiting, my research demonstrates that young

people in waithood are not inactively lingering and

waiting or their situation to change. Despite the

challenges they ace, youth in waithood are dynamic

and use their agency and creativity to invent

new orms o being and interacting with society.3

Waithood accounts or a multiplicity o young

peoples experiences, ranging rom daily survival

strategies such as street vending and cross-border

trade to involvement in gangs and criminal activities.

Waithood represents the contradictions of

modernity, in which young peoples opportunities

and expectations are simultaneously broadened

and constrained. They are enlarged by the new

technologies of information and communication

cyberspace, mobile telephones, television and

advertising that make young people more globally

integrated. At the same time, young women and men

in Africa relate to local socio-economic structures

and cultural patterns and are often constrained

by a lack of access to good education and secureemployment as well as by political instability and

repression and epidemics such as HIV/AIDS.

i

In the last ew years, Arica has witnessed an

upsurge o youth protests about socio-economic

and political conditions, some o which gathered

enough orce to overturn ruling regimes. These

uprisings have generated new refections about

the condition o youth, their political activism and

engagement in processes o social and political

change. The majority o young Aricans are today

grappling with a dicult transition into adulthood.

Ater they leave school with ew skills they are

unable to obtain work and become independent

get a house or themselves, support their relatives,

get married, establish amilies and gain social

recognition as adults. These attributes o adulthood

are becoming increasingly unattainable or the

majority o young people in Arica.

I use the notion waithood, a portmanteauterm o wait and -hood, meaning waiting or

adulthood, to reer to this period o suspension

between childhood and adulthood.1 On the one

hand, young people in waithood are no longer

children in need o care, but on the other, they are

still unable to become independent adults. While

chronological age denes them as adults, socially

they are not recognised as such. Rather than

dening youth on the basis o age categories (or

example, 1524 or 15342), this paper understands

youth as a social construction dened by societal

expectations and responsibilities; thus, it considers

all those who have not yet been able to attain social

adulthood, despite their age, as youth.

This paper examines young peoples strategies

or coping with waithood and carving out orms o

livelihoods to sustain themselves. It argues that

waithood does not result rom a ailed transition on

the part o the youth themselves but rather rom a

breakdown in the socio-economic system supposed

to provide them with better opportunities. Their dailystruggles or survival and emancipation bring them

into the streets to protest against their conditions

Alcinda Honwana

Alcinda is a visiting

proessor o international

development at the Open

University, UK. She has

carried out extensive

research in Mozambique

in the area o children and

youth and conict. Herfeld research also took

her to Angola, Senegal,

Sri Lanka, Columbia,

South Arica, DRC and

Tunisia. Alcindas latest

works include Youth and

Revolution in Tunisia

(orthcoming June 2013)

and The Time of Youth:

Work, Social Change

and Politics in Africa

(2012). In 2007, she was

awarded the prestigious

Prince Claus Chair orDevelopment and Equity in

the Netherlands.


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Today, Arican societies no

longer endow young men

and women with the social,

economic, cultural and moral

resources they need to ollow

robust pathways to adulthood.

There is no doubt that waithood stems rom

bad governance and rom social and economic

policies, such as structural adjustment programmes

that have deeply weakened Arican states ability

to determine national socio-economic policies and

priorities and to uphold the social contract with

their citizenry. But pervasive corruption and the

absence o civil liberties urther compounds the

problem.

Experiencing and Coping with Waithood

Liggey, which means work in Wolo4, is one o

the most notable virtues in many Arican cultures.

Liggeyis celebrated as an important marker o

adulthood because the ability to work and provide

denes a persons sel-worth and position in the

amily and community. Yet the majority o young

women and men are today unable to nd work and

attain a socially valued status as independent and

responsible adults, as well as the sense o dignity

embedded in the notion oliggey.

During my research in Mozambique I

interviewed Joel, a 28-year-old man, who explained:

At the age o 18, our athers would go to South

Arica as labour migrants to work in the mines . . .

[and] come home with enough money to pay lobola

[bridewealth] or a girl. They would then go back

or another contract and return with more moneyto build a house and pay or the wedding and other

amily expenses. Becoming a labour migrant was

a rite o passage into adulthood, as work in the

mines provided the resources the young men rom

southern Mozambique needed to become workers,

husbands, athers and providers or their amilies,

as well as taxpayers and contributors to the wider

society.

Today, Arican societies no longer endow

young men and women with the social, economic,

cultural and moral resources they need to ollow

robust pathways to adulthood. Arican societies

are struggling with economic decline, strained

educational systems, high unemployment rates and

insecure livelihoods, all o which seriously weaken

the social abric. The decline o opportunities in

rural areas has led young men and women to

migrate to the cities, where their chances o nding

employment remain very slim. For educated youths,

the mismatch between the education system and

the needs o the labour market orces them tosurvive in an oversaturated inormal economy or as

inormal labour in the ormal sector.5

Young women and men experience waithood

in very dierent ways. For men, waithood entails

acing the pressures o nding a steady job,

securing the resources to purchase, build or rent a

home and covering the costs o marriage and amily

ormation. Although women are increasingly being

educated and have always engaged in productive

labour alongside household chores, marriage and

motherhood are still the most important markers o

adulthood. Yet their ability to attain this adult social

status oten depends on mens moving beyond

waithood.6

Waithood involves a long process o negotiating

personal identity and nancial independence in

circumstances o deep socio-economic crisis.

Narratives rom various young women and menpoint to the impact o structural conditions on their

lives and highlight their inescapable socio-economic

vulnerability. From having to resort to improvised

orms o livelihood in the inormal economy to

involvement in illegal and sometimes criminal

endeavours, young people in waithood struggle

to make a living. The young people I interviewed

during my research in several Arican countries

used particular expressions to describe their

situation: the Mozambicans used the Portuguese

term desenrascar a vida (eke out a living); the

Senegalese and Tunisians employed the French

term dbrouillage (making do); and the South

Aricans spoke about just getting by. All these

expressions vividly convey the extemporaneous

nature o their lives.

Young people recognise the actors that limit

their actions and their ability to thrive and succeed.

And they no longer trust the states ability and

willingness to nd solutions to their problems.

Young women and men are using their creativityand agency to create their own spaces or action,

or youthscapes7, in which they try to subvert


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authority, bypass the encumbrances created by

the state, and ashion new ways o unctioning and

manoeuvring on their own. These youth spaces

oster opportunities and possibilities or desenrascar

a vida, dbrouillage, and or getting by through

improvisation.

In this sense, waithood should not be

understood as ailed transition to adulthood, nor as

a orm o deviance or a pathology rom which young

people suer.8 Waithood, with all its challenges,

constitutes also a period o experimentation,

improvisation and great creativity as young Aricans

adopt a range o survival strategies to cope with

the daily challenges in their lives. Amidst their

socio-economic and political marginalisation, young

people in waithood are able to develop a sense o

shared identity and consciousness that leads them

to challenge the establishment and ght or their

rights.

Waithood, Citizenship and Social Change

Young Aricans have showed strong awareness

o the broader socio-economic and political

environments that aect their lives. They are acutely

conscious o their marginal structural position, and

they despise and rebel against the abuses and

corruption that they observe as the elites in power

get richer and they become poorer.9 These youthsare not a lost generation nor are they completely

apathetic about what is going on in their societies.10

Young people I spoke to in various Arican countries

eel deeply disconnected rom those who control

power and national politics. They are dismayed

by the growing lack o airness and equity in the

distribution o resources and are coming out to the

streets to express their discontent and anger.

The Tunisian uprising in December 2010 began

with massive street demonstrations led by young

men and women to protest high unemployment,

poor living conditions, denial o civil liberties and

lack o prospects or the uture. This movements

success inspired young people across the continent

and beyond, showing that change is possible and

stimulating political protests.11 In a matter o weeks,

Egyptian and Libyan youth, too, joined with other

groups to remove their rulers.

While these events are well known, other

protest movements in sub-Saharan Arica received

less attention. In Senegal, in June 2011, youngpeople rallied by the Yen a marre(Enough is

enough!) movement prevented the approval o

constitutional amendments that avoured the sitting

president and led a national campaign to encourage

young people to participate in the election that

voted the president out o oce. In Mozambique,

in February 2008 and again in September 2010,

young people rioted to protest the high cost o

living and orced the government to accede to their

demands. Youth protests have also taken place in

Sudan, Angola, Uganda, Nigeria and Burkina Faso,

to mention just a ew.

These are cries or reedom rom a generation

yearning to make a place or itsel in the world.

There is no doubt that young people are a critical

indicator o the state o a nation, o its politics,

economy and social and cultural lie. Although

national and regional contexts dier and grievancesare diverse, young peoples anger derives rom

deepening social inequalities: they are aected

by the same ills created by globalisation and

ailed neo-liberal policies, by corruption and bad

governance as well as a lack o civil liberties. As

globalised communications raise their expectations,

local conditions and public policies push those

aspirations out o reach.

Strikingly, in the atermath o the uprisings,

young people appear to be returning to the

periphery o ormal politics and are struggling to

nd a political role or themselves. This tendency is

particularly evident where sudden regime change

created a political vacuum and opened the space

or new political actors to emerge. However, the

reality is that established political parties (and

religious orces, in cases o Tunisia and Egypt)

quickly seized the political space and blocked

the emergence o young people and alternative

orces, reverting to politics as usual. Moreover,

young people reused to be co-opted into ormalparties and have not established new ones. They

oten preer to continue their political actions in

Young people recognise the

actors that limit their actions

and their ability to thrive and

succeed. And they no longer

trust the states ability and

willingness to fnd solutions to

their problems.


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the streets and through civil society associations,

reraining rom participation in the partisan

manoeuvring that has preoccupied those involved in

ormal party politics.

Why are young people not taking a more

active role in ormal politics once the new era o

democracy begins? How can they break through

the obstacles created by existing political parties?

What roles are they playing in post-protest political

transitions? To what extent are they able to push or

Endnotes1 The term waithood was rst used by Diane Singerman (2007)

and Navtej Dhillon and Tarik Youse (2009) in their work on

youth in the Middle East and North Arica. See: Singerman D,

The economic imperatives o marriage: Emerging practices

and identities among youth in the Middle East, Working

Paper 6, Washington DC, and Dubai: Wolensohn Centre or

Development and Dubai School o Government, 2007; Navtej

D and Youse T (eds.) Generation in waiting: The unulflled

promise o young people in the Middle East, Washington DC:

Brookings Institution Press, 2009.

2 The United Nations and the World Bank dene youth as all

those between the ages o 15 and 25 years old (United Nations

2007; World Bank 2007). The Arican Union and many Arican

nations dene youth as those aged 15 to 35 (Arican Union

2006). See: United Nations, World youth report 2007: Young

peoples transition to adulthood: progress and challenges, New

York: United Nations, 2007; World Bank, World development

report: Development and the next generation, Washington DC:

World Bank, 2007; Arican Union, Arican Youth Charter, Addis

Ababa: Arican Union, 2006.3 Honwana A, The Time o Youth: Work, Social Change and

Politics in Arica, Washington DC: Kumarian Press, 2012.

Honwana A and de Boeck F (eds.), Makers and Breakers:

Children and Youth in Postcolonial Arica, Oxord: James

Currey; Trenton, NJ: Arica World Press; Dakar: Codesria, 2005.

4 Wolois a West Arican language spoken in Senegal, Gambia

and Mauritania.

5 Chen M, Rethinking the inormal economy: Linkages with the

ormal economy and the ormal regulatory environment, in

Guha-Khasnobis B, Kanbur R and Ostrom E (eds.), Linking the

Formal and Inormal Economy: Concepts and Policies, Oxord:

Oxord University Press, 2006, pp. 75-92.

6 Singerman, op. cit; Calvs AE, Kobiane JF and Martel E,

Changing transitions to adulthood in urban Burkina Faso,

Journal o Comparative Family Studies38(2), 2007, pp.

26583.

7 Sunaina M and Soep E (eds.), Youthscapes: The popular, the

national, the global, Philadelphia: University o Pennsylvania

Press, 2005.

8 Jones G, Youth. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009.

9 Honwana, op. cit.;

10 Diou M, Engaging postcolonial cultures: Arican youth and

public space, Arican Studies Review46(2), 2003, pp. 112.11 Honwana A, Youth and Revolution in Tunisia. London: Zed

Books, (orthcoming July 2013).

undamental socio-economic and political change

rom outside mainstream politics? Will street protests

remain their main mechanism to exert pressure on

those in power? These are some o the questions

that merit urther research and analysis as this wave

o youth protests and political activism continues

to unold. But there is no doubt that this waithood

generation is already standing up or itsel and trying

to redress the wrongs o contemporary society.


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There has been an awakening,

and more awareness and

participation rom young

Nigerians since January 2012.

Interview

Y opyn Mm

In January 2012, Nigerians took to the streets in

the biggest protests to convulse the West Arican

nation in several years. The Occupy Nigeria

protests were triggered by the governments

removal o uel subsidies, which it argued were

wasteul and served the interests o a ew corrupt oil

marketers more than those o ordinary Nigerians.

The protests orced the government to partially

reinstate the subsidies and begin an investigation into

widespread corruption in the oil industry. Although

the street protests petered out ater the government

made concessions, many Occupy activists are

still engaged on social media, calling or an end to

corruption and taking the government to task on

issues o accountability and transparency. One o

them, Azeenarh Mohammed, discusses the uture o

the Occupy Nigeria movement, as well as the role o

young people in the debate around good governance.hBs: t opy n p b

b p. W y y

w ?

az: I think we all realised that Occupy

Nigeria was a reactive movement. It came about as

a result o what the government had done. When

government semi-addressed what happened, the

whole movement just died down. When Occupy

came out to protest, it did not have a set o

demands that spelled out what young Nigerians

actually stand or. Until we have a proactive

movement that seeks to positively aect Nigeria,

we can only continue to count the unity o young

Nigerians under one voice and platorm as the main

success o the protest.

hBs: d y m p mm

m b ?

az: Yes, and I think it is already starting

slowly. There has been an awakening, and more

awareness and participation rom young Nigerians

since January 2012. They have come to therealisation that what they say actually does count

and that, i they take enough interest and make an

eort to participate, they can infuence things. Young

people are also studying the budget, critiquing it

and suggesting alternate ways orward. Government

might not necessarily be taking action on those

things now, but they are beginning to take those

voices into account.

hBs: a y xmp w y

m b b b ?

az: Besides the investigations into the oilsubsidy regime that were triggered by the Occupy

protests, I think a good example is the poisoning

scandal that occurred in Northern Nigeria in January

this year: children as young as six years old were

employed to dig and crush rock in the search or

gold, using mercury and other toxic chemicals. Even

children who were not directly involved with the work

got aected as their parents or the wind carried the

chemicals around the village. They played with it

and some kids are now mentally dead, others have

irreparable nerve damage and many others died. A

lot o people had been talking about it, especially at

international level, but they had not involved young

Nigerians. When some youth started tweeting and

took interest in it, thousands o other young people

ollowed and started calling, texting and emailing

their representatives, their ministers and other

public ocials. The inconvenience o receiving so

many calls, text messages and emails orced them

into action. Ater eight months o inaction, it took

only two days o youth mobilising and demandingaction or the money to be released to remediate the

whole town o Bagega. We learned rsthand then

Azeenarh Mohammed

Azeenarh is a lawyer-

turned-blogger with a keen

interest in economics,

governance, equality and

social and environmental

justice. She is the project

manager or the Gender

Democracy Programme

at the Heinrich BllFoundation ofce in

Nigeria.


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that when you show the youth what to do to bring

about change, chances are that their exuberance

will drive them to do it.

hBs: t w p

w opy-p mm n

m p y b . t w x

y pp ?

az: I think the youths outside o the cities

in Nigeria are also participating in these struggles,

but it is just harder or media to keep up with them

because they are so ar away. Even as urban-based

activists, we dont have very easy communication

channels with rural youths. But social media makes

it a lot easier than it was in the past. Did you hear

about the tweet rom Babura? Thats about the

remotest village in the north o Nigeria, and still

someone rom there tweeted, We have occupied

Babura!

hBs: By m,

w pby p

mm y ?

az: I honestly dont know what could

trigger it, but the truth is that it is going to happen

surely. Ater the last Occupy protests, networks

were ormed and people are constantly in touch.

Every single day, I am invited and I am sure

various other young people are invited to dierent

meetings with dierent agendas. The thread thatconnects all o these is that they are always looking

or a way orward. Young people are sitting down;

they are plotting and planning. They are not just

commenting; plans are being put in motion. I dont

know which one o them is going to come rst, and

what will be the catalyst.

hBs: P w opy p

w m by by

q. W y b b

m w?

az: What we want is to have a say in

how our country is governed, how our resources

are managed and how our uture is shaped.

During the rst protest, we hadnt ully developed

our demands around these issues and also

didnt really have a oot in the door leading to the

negotiating table. What we were sure o was what

we didnt want and we werent araid to say it. But

now the youth movement is growing, evolving,

and the government is beginning to understand

that these young people are organised and that

their demands are practical, reasonable and

implementable. For example, as part o the Green

Deal Nigeria initiative, we have ormulated ideas

around the uture Nigeria that we want: energy or

everyone, jobs in renewable energy and a better,

more sustainable agriculture sector that gives our

small armers a chance! As government heard o

this, they invited us to see how these ideas could

be incorporated into the national development

vision or 2020.

hBs: l 2015 , w y pp ?

az: As generating change is more dicult

rom outside o government, young people have

understood that they have to get to the trenches

and get their hands dirty to see the Nigeria that

they dream o. Everyone is watching the existing

parties closely beore making a choice because

our constitution makes independent candidacy

impossible. But there is a denite interest in

participating in governance rom 2015 as is

evidenced by an increasing number o young people

taking up positions in parties and government.

What we want is to have a say

in how our country is governed,

how our resources are managed

and how our uture is shaped.


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On 23 June 2011, a large coalition o

Senegalese civil society organisations and

opposition parties led a protest march

to challenge then president Abdoulaye

Wade on yet another move to change the countrys

constitution through a bill proposed to the national

assembly. One o the provisions that angered the

citizens would, i adopted, allow any presidential

candidate to win the position in the rst round, even

with less than 25 percent o the vote.

Despite violent repression, the organisers

o the march emerged as the winners against

Wade and his regime. The presidency retracted

the bill and the June 23 Movement (M23) was

born. In its composition and immediate impact,

M23 was a rst or Senegalese politics, and

probably or rancophone Arica. Through peaceul

demonstration, ordinary citizens had demonstratedpeoples power and their ability to control their

destiny.

In the ollowing months, M23 managed to

garner so much support that it was instrumental in

the electoral deeat o Wade. Among the key players

in this large coalition, composed o political parties

and civil society organisations, one movement in

particular carried the voice o the youth: Yen a

marre(We are ed up).

Interestingly enough, beore the young people

got ed up with the president and his regime, they

had been his main supporters, both when he was

in opposition and in the rst years o his presidency.

With Wade as the opposition leader, the youth

shouted endlessly Sopi, Sopi (change, change)

until they got change by voting or him en masse

in the historic 2000 election. At last Wade was in

power and the Senegalese youth could dream.

They could dream because Wade, armed

with a sense o rhetoric rarely equalled in modern

Senegalese politics, wooed his young ollowers withone oten repeated symbolic sentence: Dis moi

quelle jeunesse tu as et je te dirais quel pays tu

seras (Tell me what type o youth you have and Ill

tell you what your country will be like).

The move was a strategic one in a country

where two thirds o the population is below the age

o 25. Wade promised them everything rom job

creation to easier access to loans and housing.

At political rallies and in the media, Wade the

aspiring president would endlessly repeat his

statement. He claimed to have coined it, saying it

refected his aith in the youth as the main catalysts

o the change he was advocating at the national

level. At the end, be it his own or not, the sentence

was credited to him, in Senegal at least.

A shrewd politician, he knew very well what he

could gain i such a message made its way to the

countrys millions o young people. He desperately

needed their vote to win the presidency, as it was

clear he could not count on the elderly segment

o the population whose loyalties were solidly

entrenched in the ruling Socialist Party, which had

led the country to independence.

As a scholar and ormer university proessor,

Wade also knew what the youth represented in

Senegal, not only in terms o demographics, but

also in terms o political engagement. This is a

country in which, as ar back as colonial times,

the youth in schools and universities were highly

involved in politics. Independence did not change

the situation. Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegalsrst president, aced a memorable challenge in

1968, when university students put the country

Interestingly enough, beore

the young people got ed up

with the president and his

regime, they had been his main

supporters.Hamadou Tidiane Sy

Tidiane is the ounder

and director o the Higher

School o Journalism,

Communication and

Digital Media in Dakar,

Senegal. He is also the

ounder o the award-

winning West Arican

regional news website,

Ouesta.com. Tidiane has

worked as a correspondent

or numerous high-profle

international newsorganisations or nearly

two decades.

s:Youth Vs the Old Guard


13/32


into turmoil, seriously threatening the stability o his

regime. No serious politician could ignore them.

Considering all this, many still wonder why, in

2011 a year beore the 2012 presidential election

Abdoulaye Wade decided to openly oppose his

countrys young men and women in what was nally

a atal move or him. These young people had said

no to a third term or him very early on. Yet, despite

several calls and peaceul demonstrations, the

ormer president reused to heed the message o

the disappointed youth who were now openly and

loudly saying enough is enough or we are ed

up: Yen a marre.

Many believe the stubbornness o the ageing

president could only be explained by his desire

to prepare the presidential seat or his son Karim

Wade, who could not win a national election by

himsel.

Millions o young Senegalese were extremely

angry at the president, accusing him o avouring his

son over all the young people who had supported

him beore he came to power while this same

son had been comortably settled in Paris. Many o

these disgruntled people joined Yen a marre.

Created a couple o months beore Dakar

hosted the 2011 World Social Forum, Yen a marre

was initiated by a group o rap artists and their

riends to react against the countrys state o aairs.According to its leaders, citizens who elt concerned

and who needed change were not happy with the

countrys governance style and elt they had to do

something.

The idea was to express the anger and

rustrations o disgruntled young people in the urban

areas who had no job prospects and had to deal

with power shortages and an eroding educational

system on a daily basis. All o this, plus rampant

corruption and the arrogant impunity o political

leaders, plus a general sense o social unease

throughout the country uelled the movement.

The supporters oYen a marrewere even

more upset that this was all taking place while

the countrys political leadership epitomised by

the son o the very president they had elected to

change their lives was leading a lavish lie. The

country had not changed in the desired direction.

Corruption, nepotism, avouritism and partisan

politics grew to proportions never seen in Senegal.

Against this background, Yen a marrequickly roserom a simple rallying cry in the underprivileged

suburbs o Dakar to become the name o a nation-

wide social movement. From its hip-hop roots, it

fourished into a real melting-pot where all sorts o

youth would nd a platorm to voice their concerns:

students, unemployed young people, young workers

rom the inormal sector, the cohorts o rural

migrants lling the cities streets, young graduates

with no hope or the uture, young migrant workers

repatriated rom Western countries, etc.

The 2012 election played an important role

in strengthening the movement. Political tensions

around the third term actor piled up and added

to the social discontent. It gave more legitimacy

and more substance to the enough is enough

agenda. The countrys mobilisation against a third

term was massive, as this was perceived as a real

move backwards or a country that has always

boasted solid democratic credentials. It allowed

the movement to join orces with other civil society

organisations and created sympathies or it beyond

its geographical and social origins.

Despite the act that the constitutional court

declared it legal or Wade to run, the national

campaign against the third term became a ght

between the legitimacy o the citizens and the orce

o state institutions.

In the end, Wade was deeated on 25 March

2012, putting the youth at the centre o the

political stage. Ater having largely contributed

to Wades victory in 2000, here they were again,

this time contributing to his deeat. With other key

actors, they clearly appeared to be the countrys

kingmakers.

It was no wonder that the new president, Macky

Sall, who grew up under the tutelage o Abdoulaye

Wade, and who is much younger, would also try

to please the youth. Walking in the ootsteps o his

mentor, he promised to create 500 000 new jobs in

ve years i he was elected.

His pledge to ght corruption also gained himsome support, including rom the youth who wanted

to see the countrys resources back in state coers.

Yen a marrequickly rose rom

a simple rallying cry in the

underprivileged suburbs o

Dakar to become the name o a

nation-wide social movement.


14/32


whether the movement, rather than being re-active

and opposed to certain issues, can proactively

contribute to radical change and become a real

social or political orce capable o proposing and

driving proound changes.

Their oer to contribute to the emergence o

a new type o Senegalese citizen so ar remains

an empty slogan: a lack o civic education and

discipline, corruption, and many other social faws

are still common characteristics o Senegalese

society. So ar, no convincing programme o action

that outlines the essential steps needed or radical

change has been put on the table not by Yen a

marre, nor by anyone else.

Nevertheless, the 201112 civic engagement

has let behind some important lessons that other

groups can learn rom. The power portrayed by the

young and determined citizens has opened the eyeso other youth. More initiatives and organisations

are being launched by young people with the clear

desire to take more control o government action.

For example, in the atermath o the 2012

election, a group o young computer experts

developed Mackymetre, an online platorm

dedicated to monitoring and rating the government.

This unprecedented tool, made possible by the

youths appropriation o new technology, enables

any interested visitor to compare electoral pledges

with actual achievements, to rate ministers, and

to ollow government action on a daily basis. Two

main challenges remain. Proessional politicians

can easily pay agents or mobilise supporters to

invade the platorm and infuence the ratings and

votes, as they did earlier with the popular radio

phone-in programmes. And despite all its potential,

Mackymetre remains a tool or the literate urban

elite who can aord access to the Internet.

In the end a crucial question remains: will the

youth gain enough strength and generate enoughimpact to get rid o old-style politics and politicians?

It is still too early or a denite answer.

However, the initial sympathy or him may soon ade

away as cases drag against alleged embezzlers o

state unds and with some o the dignitaries o the

previous regime shiting their allegiances to join the

new government.

All this leaves the country with a sense o dj-

vu as the youth are still waiting to see the actual

achievement o the ambitious programme proposed

by Sall, both in terms o job creation and better

governance.

Looking ahead, it is not clear yet whether Yen a

marrewill have much leverage to infuence current

policies or to prompt the current government

to deliver on its promises. The leaders o the

movement say they are adopting a critical stand

and keeping an eye on government.

In act, many o them, particularly the young rap

musicians who largely contributed to its popularity,

have gone back to their normal business, leaving

only a very ew leaders to continue the struggle.

Furthermore, the movement remains an inormal

grouping, with no legal existence; Yen a marreis

still waiting to be recognised as an association by

the authorities.

Meanwhile, the movement revealed it has

rejected oers o prominent positions in the new

government or in government bodies, in order to

remain active within civil society and to remain

the vigilant watchdog it was at its beginnings. This

may be a noble and principled approach, but

how ecient it is as a long-term strategy or the

movement remains to be seen.

Ater having been part o the struggle, the youth

and civil society have let all the political reins to

the same old politicians, some o whom have been

in power since the time o Senghor. This gives little

room or a real change in the political landscape

and how politics is conducted in Senegal, however

much the country loves to claim its democratic

maturity.

Furthermore, the issues o legitimacy (or

illegitimacy) and longevity in power that made the

ght oYen a marreagainst Wade a popular cause

cannot yet be put against the new government.

Thus the massive spontaneous support the

movement had in 201112 has already started to

ade.

However, the big challenge or Yen a marreand

the youth is not really on the political ront wherethey have already proved their ability to mobilise

and make things happen. The real question is

The real question is whether

the movement, rather than

being re-active and opposed to

certain issues, can proactively

contribute to radical change.


15/32


levels o education is not coincidental. More than 86

percent o unemployed youth do not have urther

or tertiary education, and two-thirds o them have

never worked.5 These are the youth who swell the

South Arican reservoir o joblessness.

A dysunctional public education system and

the ailure o our economy to create jobs condemnmillions o youth to a lie o hopelessness. South

Aricas education system is a machine that

produces ill-prepared job seekers in an economy

that requires a critical mass o entrepreneurs.

Evidence across the world suggests that sel-

employment in small-scale enterprises is a sure way

towards economic emancipation. The prolieration

o post-apartheid youth institutions and policies has

not succeeded in instilling a spirit o creative sel-

reliance among South Arican youth.

Proposals to rescue youth rom the crunching

jaws o poverty are shot down, with no alternatives

put on the table. Such is the ate o the National

Treasurys youth wage-subsidy proposal. Politicians

engage in tit-or-tat games while the youth wallow in

hopelessness. It will not be long beore this youthul

energy nds expression in social upheaval and other

destructive activities. Thus the demographic dividend

might as well be a time bomb waiting to explode.

Youth in Politics: The Myth o Youth ApathySouth Arica has a long history o youth activism

in politics, and the involvement o youth in the

South Aricas uture is at a crossroads. At

the centre o the intersection lies the huge

challenge to bolster youth participation in

the economy and to develop young people

or uture political leadership.

It is true that a countrys uture is mirrored in its

youth. Thus anyone pondering the uture prospects

o a nation should look no urther that the state o

youth in the economy and in politics. A nation that

ails to create economic opportunities or its youth is

guaranteed to experience upheavals in the uture.

The state o youth in politics can provide a glimpse

into what could possibly be tomorrows leadership.

However, a corrupt political culture combined with

a lack o economic opportunities or youth is a toxic

mix that can drive a nation into a state o chaos.

Such a prospect is not so distant or South Arica.

Y emy: dmp

d tm Bmb?

South Arica has a youthul population. Only 7

percent o the population is older than 60 years,

while about one third o the population is younger

than 15 years old.1 This means that more than 60

percent o the population is between the age o 16

and 59 years. This is the demographic dividend that

South Arica should be beneting rom. Alas, it is not!

The majority o the unemployed are young

people. More than 70 percent o the unemployed

are between the ages o 15 and 24.2 According to

the National Treasury, about 42 percent o young

people under the age o 30 are unemployed,

compared with less than 17 percent o adults over

30 years o age. Only 1 in 8 working-age adults

under 25 years o age have a job, compared with 40

percent in most emerging economies.3 The National

Planning Commission has also revealed that almost

all o the job losses in 2009/10 were experienced

by those under the age o 30, and with less than agrade 12 education.4

The correlation between unemployment and

The prolieration o post-

apartheid youth institutions

and policies has not succeeded

in instilling a spirit o creative

sel-reliance among South

Arican youth.

s a Y:A Threat to be Feared or a Future to be Cherished?

Brutus Malada

Brutus holds a mastersdegree in education

rom the University o

Johannesburg. He is

currently a senior research

ellow at the Centre or

Politics and Research.

Beore this, Brutus

was a policy specialist

at the National Youth

Development Agency o

South Arica. He is also a

member o the Midrand

Group, a loose association

o young aspiringintellectuals based in

Johannesburg.


16/32


2009. This is an indication o a geneneration that is

engaged in politics, although their infuence and the

quality o their engagement is debatable.

l: ty dm?

The responsibility o todays youth or uture

leadership is a certainty. However, there is a

monumental crisis o youth leadership in South

Arica today. Nowhere is this crisis more acutely

expressed than in politics. Today, ew political

parties, including the ruling party, can say justiably

that their current crop o youth leaders exemplies

what their heirs should be. The recent decision by

the ANC to disband its youth leagues executive

is testimony to this. Imagining South Arica in the

hands o present-day youth leaders conjures up an

uninspired uture.

The state o the youth wings o political parties

supposedly the breeding grounds or uture

political leaders is not inspiring either. They are

a microcosm o the general state o the political

parties, characterised by poor leadership and

actionalism. A culture o intolerance in debates,

bullying, personality cults and an allergy to

intellectualism are as evident in youth ormations as

they are characteristic o the main political parties.

This culture is not good or the development

o uture leadership. It may bequeath the nationtyrants rather than democrats, ools rather

than intellectuals, immoral rather than virtuous

leadership. It is important or South Aricans to

refect deeply about the implications o the current

state o politics or posterity. Only the reversal o this

dominant political culture will restore condence

about South Aricas uture leaders.

Indeed, the Arican continent is replete with

examples o the grave consequences o bad

leadership. Strikingly, almost all countries that have

experienced a diminished quality o leadership

maniest similar symptoms. Such countries are

characterised by sel-centeredness in politics,

inhumanness in business and disintegration o the

social abric. Oten this occurs in a context o civil

society disengagement, where ordinary citizens

abandon the space o governance to proessional

politicians.

The decline in the quality o youth leadership

maniests itsel in the poor contributions that youth

leaders make to public discourse. Shooting rom thehip has become in vogue as a style o engagement.

Some, like the Arican National Congress Youth

struggle or liberation is well documented. Many

young people sacriced their lives in the quest or

reedom. However, post-1994 concerns about youth

apathy have been growing. The youth have been

projected as a lost generation o entertainment-

mongers who have no interest in politics.

Yet youth participation in democratic processes

and in governance in general is essential

to building a successul democracy. Using

participation in elections as a measure o interest

in politics provides an easy response to claims o

youth apathy. In the wave o the 2009 national

and provincial elections, more than 1.2 million

youth (between 18 and 29 years old) stampeded

to register as new voters. Indeed, the high voter

turnout (up to 18 million people) in the elections

owes a great deal to youth participation.6

But youth apathy is not a uniquely South Arican

challenge: old democracies experience it, too. For

example, in the 2000 presidential elections in the

United States, only 42 percent o eligible young

people between the ages o 18 to 24 voted. In South

Aricas 2009 elections, only 43 percent o eligible

voters between the ages o 18 and 35 cast their

ballots.7

Active citizenship in a democracy is not just

about voting every ve years. It is about taking

responsibility and exercising ones democratic rightto hold public representatives accountable. For the

youth, this means pushing youth issues beyond

the ritual commemorations o the Soweto uprisings

led by high school students in 1976 every June 16.

Questions regarding the quality o education, the

high rate o youth unemployment, youth culture,

and HIV and AIDS ought to orm the content o

youth participation in politics.

The never-ending service delivery protests

also debunk the myth o youth apathy. A 2012

reconciliation barometer survey o the Institute or

Justice and Reconciliation has shown that the

average (m) age o South Aricans who indicate

that they always or oten participate in peaceul

demonstrations and strikes was 3536 years

old. Thus young people are oten involved in, i

not instigators o, protest activity.8 They are as

concerned about service delivery as they are about

economic reedom in their lietime.

Youth participation in parliamentary politics is

also promising. About 15 percent (59 out o 400)o South Aricas parliamentarians were 30 years or

younger when they were elected to parliament in


17/32


change public perceptions about themselves, and

to raise condence about the uture o South Arica,

the poor quality o youth leadership in South Arica

today refects a general decline in the standards

o leadership in wider society. Beyond celebrated

struggle heroes who have already departed it

is becoming dicult to nd inspirational leaders in

South Arica today.

The role o ordinary young South Aricans in

ordinary communities must not be underestimated.

It is they who can and will have to hold local leaders

accountable. It is they who should ght or the

protection o their rights. It is they who should

demand the delivery o books to local schools on

time.

What, then, are the key issues that must

galvanise the work o youth ormations in South

Arica?

It must begin with a rank acknowledgement

that policies alone do not and will not change the

everyday lie o the youth. Creating a bridge between

policy objectives and practical outcomes constitutes

the overarching need o young South Aricans.

A urther strategic task is in the realm o

economics. Until the majority o young South

Aricans have been rescued rom the jaws o

joblessness and poverty, their worth as human

beings will remain an elusive dream. Practical waysto better their current and uture conditions must be

ound, including addressing the critical question o

education. Education must unleash young peoples

entrepreneurial energies, in order or them to create

work or themselves. But the environment must be

an enabling one, and that is the undamental role o

the state.

The youth themselves must awaken to the harsh

reality that their own social conditions and their very

uture are at stake. Such consciousness must goad

them into action. Only then will the youth reclaim

their space in society as symbolic o a uture to be

cherished rather than a threat to be eared.

League (ANCYL) leaders, rely on the strength

o their voices and insults to drown out their

interlocutors. Beore his expulsion rom the ANC,

ormer ANCYL leader Julius Malema had perected

this art. It was no longer the merit o arguments that

counted, but the elasticity o his arrogance. The

louder a youth leader shouts, the more electried

the audience. This refects a collective psyche in

need o urgent therapy. Only then can the youth

hope to be taken seriously when they exhort society

to address their issues.

The prevailing youth leadership culture,

characterised by plunder and slander, ill-discipline,

disrespect and arrogance is not ideal or the

development o the calibre o leadership that South

Arica will need in the near uture. The longer

the culture o wealth accumulation, conspicuous

consumption, crass materialism and sheer

corruption prevails, the deeper the uture o the

country will be drowned.

It is this orm o politics that renders Susan and

Henry Giroux observation about youth in the US

relevant to South Arica today: Rather than being

cherished as a symbol o the uture, youth are

now seen as a threat to be eared and a problem

to be contained. 9 The key question that ought to

preoccupy the minds o young South Aricans

especially youth leaders must be this: What must

we do in order to not be viewed by our society as a

threat to be eared and a problem to be contained?

While it is the responsibility o the youth to

e1 Statistics South Arica, Census 2011, Pretoria: Stats SA, 2012.

2 Statistics South Arica, Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Quarter

4, 2011, Pretoria: Stats SA, 2012.

3 National Treasury, Conronting youth unemployment: Policy

options or South Arica. A discussion paper, Pretoria: National

Treasury, 2011.

4 National Planning Commission, Diagnostic Overview, Pretoria:The Presidency, 2010.

5 National Planning Commission, ibid.

6 Electoral Commission o South Arica, Report on the National

and Provincial Election 22 April 2009, Pretoria: IEC, 2009.

7 Electoral Commission o South Arica, Report on National and

Provincial Election 22 April 2009, Pretoria IEC.

8 Institute or Justice and Reconciliation, A ticking time bomb

or demographic dividend? Youth and Recionciliation in South

Arica, Cape Town: IJR 2012.

9 Giroux HA and Giroux SS, Take Back Higher Education: Race,Youth, and the Crisis o Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Era,

New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

The role o ordinary young

South Aricans in ordinary

communities must not be

underestimated. It is they who

can and will have to hold local

leaders accountable.


18/32


Aeisty woman with a throaty laugh and ready

smile, Vuyiswa Tulelo has been credited with

stabilising the Arican National Congress

Youth League (ANCYL) at a dicult time

when under the presidency o controversial Julius

Malema, who would be expelled rom the ANC in

April 2012 many elt it had turned into a bling-

obsessed, brawling boys club.

The rising political star took some time out to

speak to Wits politics proessor Shireen Hassim

about changing attitudes towards women in South

Arican youth politics.

hm: Y bm p

y , j y w

kmby 1992. Y j

p m . W y

m?

t: I knew about justice rom a young age.

My ather worked or [diamond mining company]

De Beers and he would tell us about how black and

white workers had dierent locker rooms. Once,

when I went Christmas shopping at Foschini with

my mother and sister, we saw a little white girl

playing on a mannequin. My sister went to play on a

mannequin too, but the shop assistant immediately

stopped her. It elt like a deep injustice: that

memory has never let me.Then when I went to study at Wits University,

I saw clearly that race and gender still dened

inequalities. I applied or law and had to do an

aptitude test. The white man who administered the

tests said to me, Look, theres nothing in the results

o this test that says we cant admit you, but I have

picked up that you wouldnt cope. Most women

students cant cope with the workload. So then I

went to study politics and, to my amazement, one o

the male politics lecturers says in class, The money

I earn at Wits is just enough to pay or my wies

make-up. I thought, even these liberated men

cannot stand to see liberation in the home.

hm: Y w y m my

wm s rp

c s a s c

(sasco). d y f b y?

i m f m w i w

f y !

t: You know, there are deep genderdynamics in meetings. When a man says

something, everyone thinks its a brilliant idea.

When a woman suggests something, there are ten

questions that ollow. Then a man will say exactly

what the woman rst said, and everyone will clap!

Student activism is a tough space because you have

to prove yoursel, not just in organisational terms but

in intellectual terms. You have to ght in the space

o ideas. And i a woman had ideas, the men would

quickly orm a coalition against her.

Then there are ways that the men would exclude

women. They would send us out to buy ood, and by

the time we got back the agenda had been mostly

covered and by the time we had cleared up the

ood, there was nothing let to discuss

The men had these tactics, these ways o

putting women in their place. They would rst

propose love to you. Then they would try to break

down how you look, and compare you to other

women on campus. There was always a struggle

to be treated as an equal, as someone who hadopinions on the issues students were acing.

Vytjie Mentor [a senior ANC politician], who

Student activism is a tough

space because you have to

prove yoursel, not just inorganisational terms but in

intellectual terms. You have to

fght in the space o ideas.

Interview

t P g s aY P

Vuyiswa Tulelo

Vuyiswa was born in

Kimberley in the Northern

Cape, was secretary-general o the ANC Youth

League or two terms and

is currently the consul-

general o South Arica

in Chicago. From 1995

to1997, Vuyiswa was the

leader o the Congress o

South Arican Students

(COSAS) in the Northern

Cape. She led the Wits

Student Representative

Council rom 1999 to

2000, and was elected

vice-president o theInternational Union o

Socialist Youth.


19/32


had a huge infuence on me, said that this is what

we have: a system within a system. We have to

challenge the gender inequalities.

hm: d m y

w y ym?

t: Oh, denitely! They quickly learned that

I was not going to have relationships with them or

in act with anyone in the ANC! I wore takkies and

jeans and I had a lot to say about politics and I was

clearly not one o the crowd o young women who

hung around the ANC Youth League and SASCO

you know, that was very much the in crowd to

hang with. The men wanted me to be a little bit

soter, but I would not be the politician I am today i

I had paid attention to lipstick and stilettos. I had an

attitude and a career.

I did nd very quickly that there was a group o

women who saw me as giving voice to something

that they had also been thinking and eeling. I had

lots o backing rom the women students.

I do think things are a little dierent or young

women activists now. They should not have to

tone down their emininity in order to be taken

seriously; they shouldnt need to kick down those

doors anymore. On the other hand, I sometimes

say to young women comrades, I I am arguing or

womens right to contraception, do I really need my

cleavage to be a distraction?

hm: d y b

y wm p ?

t: Absolutely. By the time I was elected

secretary-general o the Youth League, a whole

generation o eminist activists Febe Potgieter

and Nomanelo Kota, among others had made

an impact on the organisation. So when I came

in raising issues o the importance o providing

childcare or conerences, it was no longer seen as

a womens issue. It was an organisational issue.

Really, women have become more assertive. We

saw that it was important that, i we wanted to be

treated as equal, we had to change the conversation

drastically. You began to see changes, rst as

women would approach men at conerences and

say, Im available tonight. Suddenly the men had

to think twice because they knew these women had

political ambitions. Beore, the men would reer

to particular women as their branch. Now they

became aware that i they accepted advances it

could have political implications! Women could playthe same games as men. Women were no longer

objects or men. They could be equal partners.

hm: a y my w y anc Y

l w y m p yp

Y l m py-, b-p

y m.

t: It just isnt true that the ANC Youth

League is predominantly a male space. Between

1990 and 2011, the demographic o membership

had changed completely. By the time o the Nasrec

conerence in 2011 [when Malemas disciplinary

hearing took place], there were large numbers o

young women in branches something like 60

percent o branches were represented by women.

They were still in the minority in leadership but

asserted themselves much more in conerences.

In 1998, the Youth League adopted a sexual

harassment policy, which was the rst gender-

riendly policy document since the Leagues

inception. This was ollowed by various gender

policies until 2008, when it adopted the Young

Womens Assembly as a tool to provide a ree and

sae space or young women in the Youth League

to raise their issues. I think it helped that I was

secretary-general.

hm: Y p?

t: I was urged by many to go or president.

Then I was approached to be deputy-president, but

I knew I didnt want that. It was a way o sidelining

me. The deputy-president position is the one

dealing with international aairs, so I would be

travelling constantly, and it would not really be a

promotion. So or me, secretary-general or nothing!

hm: Y p p

p Y l .

t: Look, the Youth League aced a dilemma.

On the one hand, the Youth League had this scruy

image. On the other, we wanted to show that you

could be successul even i you came rom outside

the elite circles, and that you could have a role toplay in the big debates. Jujus [Julius Malemas]

posture sought to prove and encourage everybody

Women have become moreassertive. We saw that it was

important that, i we wanted

to be treated as equal, we had

to change the conversation

drastically.

Shireen Hassim

Shireen is a proessor

o political studies

at the University othe Witwatersrand,

Johannesburg. She is

the author o Womens

Organizations and

Democracy in South Africa:

Contesting Authority

(2006), which won the

2007 American Political

Science Associations

Victoria Shuck Award or

best book on women and

politics. She has published

widely in the areas o

social justice, socialpolicy and gender, and

representative politics.


20/32


and anybody that leadership in the Youth League

is not hereditary but is earned. We wanted to show

that you could develop the best o the best out o

nothing. But somehow that sensible side o our work

got lost. It was a pity that it was reduced to a bling

dialogue and not the space to harness the best o

the best, regardless o their connections. It became

dog eat dog.

hm: d y y wm

y m anc Wm l?

t: We tried to develop good relations

between the two structures. The ANC Womens

League even had a desk or young women, and

under the leadership o Bathabile Dlamini and

Thandi Modise, we had champions. But changes in

the leadership o the Womens League have taken

us backwards.

Now the Womens League has been reduced

to being a bargaining council or quotas. It is only

about which women will be ministers and not at

all about the issues o addressing womens needs.

They stood aside and watched as [opposition

leader] Helen Zille basically stole the gender

equality agenda in the local government elections.

It is not a space or eminism.

hm: g b Y l, w

mj w b . W

y y ?

t: Well, policy ormulation is no longer

the issue. We have to be irritants in the ears o

the implementers o policy. We need to ask, or

example, when the housing policy is rolled out: how

many child-headed households are being housed?

How are the skills o young people being built when

contracts are handed out? We need to show that

lack o jobs is a problem or all young people and

not only black people. And we need to open up a

conversation about gender, because one thing we

have learnt rom the Oscar Pistorius case [the South

Arican sprint runner charged with murdering his

girlriend Reeva Steenkamp] is that abuse aects

young women across the race spectrum. It doesnt

matter what colour you are or how rich you are,

women seem to stay in relationships o abuse or

the same kinds o reasons.

hm: a y p?

t: O course. Always!

Policy ormulation is no

longer the issue. We have to

be irritants in the ears o the

implementers o policy.


21/32


The role o the youth in Kenyan politics has

returned to the centre o public debate with

the March 2013 general elections. Political

party nominations included a good number

o young leaders, and some were elected to county

assemblies in various parts o the country as well

as to the national assembly and the senate. The

most notable examples are 19-year-old Mr Munge

Kibiwott, who was elected as the Parkerra ward

representative in Baringo County and the new

member o parliament or Buuri, 26-year-old Mr

Boniace Kinoti.

Historically, young people did not participate

in decision-making processes because o the

hierarchical and patrimonial governance order

in most communities. Allocation o leadership

responsibilities ollowed age, wealth and lineage.

Breaking some o these cultural barriers is a keyachievement or the youth in Kenya in recent

history.

Largely due to their demographic dominance

people between the ages o 18 and 35 years

account or over 30 percent o Kenyas population

the youth were able to dene politics and public

discourse ahead o the elections. With youth

unemployment at more than 75 percent, job

creation dominated the agenda.

Since the language, paraphernalia and media

channels used during political campaigns are

increasingly designed to attract and infuence

young voters, older people can no longer be relied

upon to eectively manage political unctions and

activities. This is why young people began to occupy

key positions in political parties and other interest

groups. The youth are breaking through cultural

inhibitions against their involvement in decision-

making processes by making themselves the

subjects and instruments o contemporary politics.

This article examines the origins, motivation andpotential impact o what appears to be a growing

youth infuence in national politics.

Agents o Change

At dierent times in Kenyas history, the youth have

played important roles in driving political change.

For example, the contribution o the student

movement to the struggles or political pluralism and

restoration o human rights and reedoms during

the late 1980s and early 1990s is well documented.

The more recent transition rom the 40-year rule

o the Kenya Arican National Union (KANU) alsohighlights the role o young people. Ahead o the

2002 polls, crowds attending rallies countrywide

put pressure on the opposition leaders to unite.

Invariably, the majority o people in these crowds

were young. As such, it is no exaggeration to say

that the youth o Kenya created the pressure that

led to opposition unity in 2002, which resulted in

the end o the KANU regime. As stakeholders

in the more liberal and open policy processes that

ollowed the change o government, young people

have contributed to institutional reorms in the

governance, justice, law and order sector, as well as

in public nance management and in developing

the governmental agenda.

and Instruments o Party Politics

It is also important to note that a 2009 report by

the non-governmental organisation Youth Agenda

indicated that young people were responsible or

more than hal o all the cases o violence that

ollowed the 2007 general elections. The reportconrmed that youth participation in politics in

the multi-party era is still confated with the strong

Y P ky:Vanguards or Vandals?

George Omondi Okongo

George is the executivesecretary o the Arican

Research and Resource

Forum. He is also a PhD

Fellow in Public Policy

at the United Nations

University/ Maastricht

Graduate School o

Governance, Netherlands.

George was secretary-

general o the Students

Organisation o Nairobi

University and the Kenya

National Students Union

beore he was suspendedrom the University o

Nairobi and went to

urther his studies at

the University o Dar es

Salaam, Tanzania. He has

been ounder, trainer and

benefciary o various youth

leadership development

programmes in Arica.

Recently, George was

appointed secretary to a

task orce o the Arican

Union that is considering

the establishment o anArican Research and

Innovation Council.

At dierent times in Kenyas

history, the youth have played

important roles in driving

political change.


22/32


ethnic identities that underlie Kenyas political party

spectrum. Although the recent elections passed

peaceully, the youth would certainly have been,

and are likely to remain or the oreseeable uture,

a main actor in outbreaks o politically motivated

violence.

Youth involvement in political violence has

been widely analysed, including the activities o

gangs such as Mungiki, Kamjesh, Sungusungu

and Baghdad, which were deployed by various

politicians across the country to block their rivals

rom accessing their zones o infuence. The

gangs violently disrupted political events o the

enemies and oered private security to their

beneactors. This is over and above the politicians

common use o young people as shouting vessels

to drown out their opponents at shared platorms

such as joint political rallies.

These activities have a history. Under KANU

rule, regime stalwarts and President Mois

supporters could openly declare their links to such

criminal gangs, as the security and justice systems

were under the partys control. Even though the

opposition also used political gangs, the groups

supporting KANUs course were stronger and

remained active or longer periods.

The governance reorms and general

enhancement o accountability under Mwai

Kibakis presidency since 2002 made it dicult or

politicians to support violent youth groups openly

and with impunity. The gangs also zzled out as

a result o peace programmes run by local and

international NGOs, which sought to re-direct youth

energies rom violent politics to meaningul activities

in society, as well as improved access to start-up

nance provided by the state and micro-nance

institutions or youth-led business initiatives.Apart rom their mobilisation or political

violence, youth participation in party politics in

the post-KANU era has always been more evident

during elections. For example, all major parties

had identiable youth components in the 2007

general elections. Mwai Kibakis Party o National

Unity (PNU) had Vijana na Kibaki while the Orange

Democratic Party (ODM) put together the Young

Orange Democrats. ODM-K a breakaway part

o the ODM entered into a partnership with the

Vijana Progressive Alliance (VIPA). This is a change

rom the rst multi-party elections in 1992 when

KANU was the only party that maintained a youth

grouping, Youth or KANU (YK92). This trend

attests to the growing importance that parties attach

to the contribution o young people to their political

campaigns and, at least on the surace, appears to

be a positive development.

Shiting Landscape

Kenya is among the worlds most unequal countries

and, as in most parts o Arica, individual and

group ortunes are tied to their presence on the

political grid and access to state resources. Huge

inequalities exist between youth in dierent regions,

while rampant urban poverty has blurred the

rural-urban divide. In the past, the privileged young

people o Kenyas upper and middle classes have

been largely apolitical, compared to their poorer

peers who are oten mobilised by politicians orrallies and other political activities. However, there

are signs that this is bound to change.

Some o the small number o young people

whose income places them among the countrys top

earners have opted to challenge older politicians.

Worryingly, however, some seem to ollow the

ways o the politicians they compete with, raising

unds or their political activities through unlawul

means. A ew have even been linked to the illegal

drugs trade. And in most cases, their underlying

motivations or political engagement are as bad as

their means: namely, sel-preservation and wealth

accumulation very much like the older generation.

There are signs o change in the rural areas

too. The devolved system o government in

Kenyas current constitution brings the authorities

responsible or development closer to the youth. It

will be easier or youth groups to reach the newly

elected county governments than it was to get

their message to central authorities in Nairobi, the

capital city. Furthermore, devolved government willstrengthen local identities or the people in county

jurisdictions and promote popular ownership o

In the past, the privileged

young people o Kenyas upper

and middle classes have been

largely apolitical, compared

to their poorer peers who are

oten mobilised by politicians.


23/32


local governance. Since the public administrative

system will not appear ar removed rom them,

their methods may become more co-operative than

adversarial. However, as national politics remains

highly polarised and ethnic/ regional schisms

deepen, the county governance system may pose

a threat to the development o a nationwide youth

voice. In the new context o devolved governance

amidst ethno-regional polarisation, the aggregation

o youth voices or a clear expression at the national

level is paramount.

New Ways o Engagement

Internet services are accessible and aordable to

the vast majority o Kenyan youth. For this reason,

web technologies have become uniying platorms

or political youth activists across socio-economic

divides. No politician can now ignore the web

constituencies either nationally or in sub-national

jurisdictions. Nearly all o the major civil society

street demonstrations in Kenya in the recent past

have been organised through online platorms. With

this new rontier o civic engagement, the youth can

now participate in politics without worrying about

nancial inhibitions or the hostilities that lead to

violence and other orms o physical restraint.

However, there is also a dark side to this new

orum. Lately, some politicians have engaged youngpeople as mouthpieces in social media and

other web platorms. The patterns o association

remain ethnic and internet platorms are also used

to spread ethnic hatred and to deepen ethnic

polarisation. The National Cohesion and Integration

Commission (NCIC) has issued several public

warnings to culprits and legal action will be taken

against perpetrators to avoid potential ethnic strie in

the country. But even the threat o prosecution does

not seem to deter hate-mongers on the Internet and

it appears that these engagements are ollowing the

general trajectory o politics in society.

Conclusion

It is clear rom the above that individual politicians

and political groups will have little choice but to

continue adopting the language o youth in political

discourse. Young people have not stumbled into

their participation in politics and public aairs but

have taken deliberate steps to alter conditions and

overcome barriers. The harnessing o technological

advancements such as social media has played

a signicant role in recent years. However, youth

participation in politics can only have a positive

impact i young people take markedly dierent

paths rom those o ethnicity, sel-preservation and

corruption the hallmarks o Kenyas politics as

usual.

Clearly, the youth are potentially a very strong

political orce in Kenya today. But they need not to

be let to their own devices. The act that Kenyas

well-educated middle class youth have become

vehicles or spreading ethnic hatred over the web

emphasises that leadership training, mentorship

and inspiration are essential to harness the political

energies o young people to the right social course.

These need to be appropriately designed and

respond to the challenges acing young people inleadership or those with leadership potential. A lot

o emphasis should be placed on enabling young

people to understand their political environment,

especially the countrys political history and

its relationship to the present and the uture.

Eventually, such processes should help establish

a new value system among young leaders who, or

their part, will need to show that their worldview

diers rom that o most current leaders.

Finally, the youth o Kenya will have to organise

themselves more than they have done so ar.

Both state-championed (like the National Youth

Council) and non-state youth organisations will

need to be strengthened to bolster the legitimacy

o their representation o young people. This will

be even more crucial in the context o ethnic/

regional polarisation and devolved governance. The

responsibility lies with the youth themselves but a

lot is also expected o the wider society, especially

local communities, the private sector, religious

groups and the education system.

Youth participation in politics

can only have a positive impact

i young people take markedly

dierent paths rom those o

ethnicity, sel-preservation and

corruption.


24/32


When a Mugumo g tree ell down in

President Mwai Kibakis backyard in

Nyeri County, Central Kenya, just three

weeks beore the countrys presidential

elections, the local elders said it carried a strong

message o a change in leadership in avour o

younger leaders.

In hindsight it seems an easy prediction. In

the end, the 51-year-old Uhuru Kenyatta won the

presidential race ahead o 68-year-old Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta won 50.07 percent o the vote and Odinga

garnered 43.3 percent.

But beore the countrys 4 March vote, Titus

Ngugi, a 60-year-old resident rom Nyeri County was

convinced that it predicted the election results.

A Mugumo tree is sacred among the Kikuyu.

Our ancestors used to worship under it. When it

alls, it communicates a strong message, he hadsaid, adding that among the Kikuyu ethnic group it

symbolised the ascent o young leaders.

Ater the results were announced on 9 March,

he said: A margin o over (one million) votes is a

validation that the g tree did not all or nothing.

It was a sign that the time had come or younger

politicians to take over.

The elections, while characterised by tension

and ears o a repeat o the post-election violence

that rocked this East Arican nation in 20072008,

was also a scramble or the youth vote.

Government statistics indicated that 60 percent

o the 14 million registered voters were youths, and

politicians realised that they could not aord to

ignore them.

In act, many o the candidates tried to adopt

Sheng, a modied language spoken by young

people in Kenya, in order to make inroads into this

bloc o voters.

Sheng is not just a language, it is an identity

or youths, and politicians know that it is the easiestand quickest way to connect with them, Kelvin

Okoth, executive ocer at Go Sheng, a social

enterprise that uses Sheng to celebrate Kenya and

build national unity, said.

Among the

Documents

2013 05 Perspectives Africa 1.13