Open letter to the President from a Disillusioned Youth

An open letter from Jabu Hlatshwayo, an intern at the Public Affairs Research Institute, to President Ramaphosa, urging the South African government to prioritize urban land reform and the youth following the February 9, 2023, State of the Nation Address (SONA).

• The author expresses disappointment that the February 9, 2023, State of the Nation Address failed to address the land reform crisis, focusing instead on the energy crisis and load shedding. The author argues that overlooking land reform contradicts the government's "leave no one behind" slogan and ignores the link between land shortages, the growth of informal settlements, and high youth unemployment.
• The author contends that government land reform efforts have focused too heavily on agricultural land, neglecting the urgent need for land in urban and peri-urban areas where 67% of South Africa's population lives. In urban areas, 44.2% of the population falls below the Upper Bound Poverty Line (UBPL) according to 2017 Stats SA data, contributing to the proliferation of informal settlements.
• In the Ekurhuleni Municipality, land shortages have forced residents into dangerous locations, including mine dumps, riverbanks, and slopes. The author highlights that Ekurhuleni has nearly 122 informal settlements and a history of mining, with 52% of the soil being dolomitic, leading to risks of sinkholes and caving. Specifically, the Makause informal settlement near Germiston houses at least 10,000 people in an area vulnerable to mining-related caving.
• The author calls for the President to sign the Expropriation Bill into law and establish an urban land policy as recommended by the 2019 High-Level Advisory Panel on Land Reform. The author argues that the Expropriation Bill could address urban land shortages in Ekurhuleni by allowing the expropriation of state land, abandoned land, or land held for speculative reasons, as well as resolving issues where municipal land is tied up in 99-year leases to private entities.

APA

Hlatshwayo, J. (2023). Open letter to the President from a Disillusioned Youth. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/intern-open-letter-to-the-president-from-a-disillusioned-youth/

Chicago

Hlatshwayo, Jabu. Open letter to the President from a Disillusioned Youth. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2023. https://pari.org.za/intern-open-letter-to-the-president-from-a-disillusioned-youth/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Hlatshwayo |first1=Jabu |title=Open letter to the President from a Disillusioned Youth |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=30 June 2023 |url=https://pari.org.za/intern-open-letter-to-the-president-from-a-disillusioned-youth/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{hlatshwayo2023open, author = {Hlatshwayo, Jabu}, title = {{Open letter to the President from a Disillusioned Youth}}, publisher = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://pari.org.za/intern-open-letter-to-the-president-from-a-disillusioned-youth/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }