Digital skills training, fibre rollout can reshape job landscape for EC youth

The Eastern Cape stands at a crossroads. With one of the highest unemployment rates in SA, hovering persistently above 40% and with the majority of those without work being young people from rural and underserved communities, the province desperately needs fresh thinking about how its people can participate in the economy of the future. The good news is that the tools, the partnerships, and the strategic vision already exist in embryonic form across the province, and what is needed now is the political will and coordinated effort to scale them into something truly transformative.

A recent study conducted by Mweb across more than 40,000 digitally active South Africans paints a compelling picture of how the world of work has fundamentally shifted since the Covid-19 pandemic forced offices, schools, and entire industries online almost overnight. The study found that 54% of respondents use the internet to work from home, and that four in 10 households with fibre believe it has made them more productive and improved their remote working experience. Perhaps most tellingly, one in four respondents were unemployed, and of those, 43% were youth aged 18 to 34.

For these young people, hybrid and remote work opens up countless new opportunities because they are no longer limited geographically. This is a finding that should electrify policymakers in the Eastern Cape, where distance from major economic centres has long been a barrier to employment. Consider what this means practically for a young person in Mthatha, Komani, or Lusikisiki.

[paywall]

If they possess the right digital skills, a reliable internet connection, and access to the necessary tools, they can work as a graphic designer for a company in Johannesburg, provide customer service for a business process outsourcing firm based in Cape Town, develop software for an international client, tutor students online, create content, or run an e-commerce business from their home. The Mweb study estimates that more than 350,000 freelancers were working remotely in SA in 2024, many of them dependent on fibre connectivity. The gig economy, characterised by short-term contracts and freelance work mediated by digital platforms, is not a distant aspiration but a present reality that Eastern Cape youth can and must be equipped to enter.

[/paywall]