The discourse on youth in South Africa’s post-apartheid era attempts to explore
black African youth as agents for social change in their locale. Various perspectives
define methods that are utilised by the youth to overcome the social challenges in
this era. A case study approach was adopted in conducting this research. The role(s)
played by the youth to influence social change were also investigated. The term
youth in this research, refers to black African youth between 18 and 29 years of age,
living in the township of KwaMashu in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. This investigation
attempted to unravel the contributions made by youth towards community
development, as well as the strategies that they adopted to secure their day-to-day
livelihoods. In addition, various stereotypes and attitudes connected to youth were
examined and were also documented. This study also investigated the role played
by social agencies such as government institutions, education sector and also nongovernmental
and faith-based organisations in relation to the empowerment of young
people in defining their futures. This investigation enabled the exploration of the
impact of contemporary cultural value system(s) in shaping youth’s identities and
their perceptions. The findings revealed that there is a need for relevant stakeholders
and policy makers to consider interventions that will ensure support of youth
initiatives, to curb the scourge of unemployment and poverty. It also recommends
that the academic sphere needs to consider the decolonisation of the curriculum
towards an Afrocentric Indigenous Knowledge orientation to enhance the aspirations
of the Constitution of South Africa. The study also discovered evidence that suggests
that the youth have a critical role to play in the development of their locales. Finally,
the findings of this research acts as the baseline that could assist future studies in
identifying possible themes that can provide [a fuller] understanding of the role
played by black African youth in different social settings, i.e. township life, academic
and political spheres in the post-apartheid era