Parliament Hosts P20 Youth Parliament

In pursuit of its participatory democracy mandate enshrined in the Constitution, Parliament will, on 13 June 2025, host the P20 Youth Parliament – a youth-led policy dialogue – to commemorate Youth Day.

The theme for this event is Youth Economic Participation, Employment and Opportunities – Developing a Medium-Term Youth Development Agenda for South Africa’s Youth. It is one of a series of events to be held in the build up to the P20 and G20 summits, which are being held in South Africa later this year.

This consultative dialogue comprises representatives of the 20 Speakers participating in the P20 and will bring together young Members of Parliament, provincial legislators, youth advocates, and ministers to shape a national youth development agenda, the event’s concept document states. Its object is to create the appropriate collaborative instruments across the three spheres of government to address youth unemployment and other development challenges across South Africa’s provinces, metros, districts and localities.

The document delineates in broad strokes the contributing factors to youth unemployment and the endemic constraints that hamper their active participation in South Africa’s informal and mainstream economies. The forum is expected to consider whether South Africa’s current education system is responsive to the changing world of work, which is increasingly driven by technological innovations and associated rapidly changing skills requirements.

Although micro-enterprise growth is often spoken of as the solution to job creation, the concept document suggests that systemic factors, such as the regulatory environment, spatial apartheid, crime, transport issues, and underdeveloped infrastructure, stifle entrepreneurship and make it difficult for the youth to enter, and remain, in the informal economy.

 The document also identifies oligopolies, a phenomenon in which a small number of large firms dominate the market, influencing prices and market conditions, affecting economic growth and contributing indirectly to youth unemployment and their diminished economic participation.

Primarily, the P20 Youth Parliament seeks to enforce accountability by providing a platform for young leaders to propose policy solutions, while securing concrete commitments from government ministers meant to, among other things, reduce the alarming levels of youth unemployment in the country.

The P20 Youth Parliament will ensure accountability, the concept document says, by ensuring that the government ministers present response plans to address youth unemployment, jobs and skills development. It will also provide an opportunity to track progress on commitments made through Parliament’s various oversight mechanisms.

The resolutions, recommendations or policy directive that will come out of this dialogue will further inform South Africa’s agenda for both the P20 and G20 summits.

Event information: 

Date: Friday, 13 June 2025
Time: 8:30 – 16:30
Venue: Good Hope Chamber and the virtual platforms

Members of the public may follow the proceedings live on Parliament TV (DSTV Channel 408), via the live stream on Parliament’s YouTube channel, Facebook, and X (Twitter) pages. Please see the links below.

You may subscribe to the Parliament YouTube channel to receive instant notification of live feeds.

X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/ParliamentofRSA
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ParliamentofRSA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ParliamentofRSA