Born-frees in chains



They were meant to enjoy the fruits of democracy but the children born in the year Mandela was released are an alienated generation that one day will tear the nation apart. Born-frees, born after 1990, are taking part in more violent protests and are abandoning democratic institutions as they become increasingly politically and economically alienated, a report by the SA Institute of Race Relations says.The report "Born Free but Still in Chains" - released yesterday - discusses the extent of born-frees' plight and what can be done to draw them into the economy and politics before it is too late."This report shows how bad it is," said one of its authors, Gerbrandt van Heerden.The institute found a 67% unemployment rate among black male born-frees aged 15 to 24 years, and 75% among black females of this age. Born-frees are receiving poor quality education, which prevents them from securing jobs, says the report. This leads to many turning to crime. The report says 29% of the prison population is aged between 14 and 25."These are your future leaders but they are not adequately educated and this will have a ripple effect," said Van Heerden.This generation, he said, was more likely to take part in violent protests, and in the years to come would become more involved in this form of expression. Over the last three years the number of protests has doubled, the report states.It says born-frees are not interested in mainstream politics. Only 31% of 18- to 19-year-olds are registered to vote, and the youth is increasingly supporting populist political parties, such as the Economic Freedom Fighters. Support for such political entities is likely to continue growing, the report says."If this is not sorted out, we will see our democratic institutions crumble. We need to fix the economy and get them jobs," Van Heerden said.The entrepreneurial spirit of the youth had been blunted by grants and other welfare safety nets from the government, he said.The economy needed to grow at between 5% and 8% to create jobs for the youth, said Van Heerden.The report says an environment in which independent schools can thrive is needed. With education and access to the economy, youth would be drawn back into mainstream politics, Van Heerden said.Dirk Kotze, a professor of political studies at Unisa, said the challenges facing born-frees were not unique to South Africa."The trend across the globe is that as people reach their 40s they start . getting involved in the issues of their society."But Kotze warned that if things worsened something would give."The question we must ask is: is there going to be a moment like in Tunisia with the start of the Arab Spring . is there going to be one thing that leads to an explosion of the situation?"He said institutions that were meant to be the voice of the youth were not doing their job in South Africa. An example was student politicians. "They try to talk... to prepare themselves to get positions in the senior bodies of their organisations, instead of articulating the views of the youth. There is no coherent youth voice. We do not know what the youth are thinking. We do not know what motivates them," he said.