The matric Class of 2025 will join millions of youth already searching for work, facing the same walls others have hit for years.
As thousands of young people receive their matric results, families beam with pride. There are smiles, hugs and celebrations.
But once the excitement settles, a harder question arrives: what future are these young people walking into?
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube this week announced that the Class of 2025 had achieved an 88% pass rate – the highest in South Africa’s history.
Ululation and song greeted the news, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, which topped the provincial charts at 90.66%.
On the surface, this looks like triumph. Scratch beneath the record figure, though, and the arithmetic tells a sobering story.
The minister’s 88% is calculated on the department of basic education’s full-time pupils. But although the number of pupils who wrote the exams was the highest yet – just over 900 000 – only 745 000 were full-time pupils.
Of these, 656 000 acquired the National Senior Certificate, which drops the pass rate to about 80%.
By the minister’s maths, nearly nine in 10 succeeded. By the country’s maths, nearly one in three did not.
This discrepancy between the official pass rate and the raw percentage mirrors another crisis: youth unemployment.
Just days before the matric results, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe claimed young people are “lazy” and don’t want to look for work.
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That comment angered many youth – and rightly so. It is not true.
Across the country, young people are studying, submitting CVs, attending interviews and applying for jobs every week. Some are juggling part-time work or online courses just to improve their chances.
The truth is simple: South Africa does not have enough jobs. Most young people are not choosing unemployment – they are trapped in it.
When politicians say youth are lazy, they shift blame away from the real issues: a weak economy, corruption, lack of investment, poor planning and the yawning gap between school and the job market.
The insult is even more unfair when you consider what job applications demand today: work experience, transport money, data to apply online, or connections to get a foot in the door.
For many, the barriers are insurmountable. The ANC Youth League captured the fury when it suggested that if Mantashe believes young people aren’t looking for work, perhaps they should hand-deliver their CVs to his office.
Not because it will magically create jobs, but to prove a point: they have been trying. And now we must think about the matric Class of 2025.
Today they celebrate. Tomorrow they will join millions of youth already searching for work, facing the same walls others have hit for years. That is the real crisis we should be talking about.
The discrepancy between the official 88% pass rate and the raw 80% is more than statistical sleight of hand – it foreshadows the economic wall awaiting these pupils.
We celebrate their results today, but tomorrow many of them will face the same barriers: a labour market that demands experience they cannot have, and opportunities that simply do not exist.
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Instead of blaming young people, government leaders should ask bigger questions.
Why is it so hard for youth to get their first job? Why are companies unwilling to train inexperienced workers?
Why are graduates sitting at home unemployed? Why is our education system not linked to the real needs of the economy?
Young people are not lazy. They are frustrated. They are tired. They are hustling to survive in a country that tells them to study, but then offers nothing after they graduate.
Every unemployed youth is a reminder of government failure, not youth failure.
And every discrepancy in percentages – between the glossy 88% and the sobering 80% – is a reminder of how spin can obscure reality.
South Africa cannot keep telling young people to work harder while the economy works against them.
We need leaders who create opportunities, not excuses. We need jobs, skills programmes, public investment and a serious plan for youth employment – not speeches and blame.
The Class of 2025 has done their part and deserves applause. Now it’s time for the government to be honest and do its part too.
And honesty begins with the maths.
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