Matriculated youth from a town in Polokwane say there is "not much for them to do" once they complete school.
A lack of job opportunities and learnership have left this group of young people stuck in limbo, passing the time with very little to occupy themselves with.
While many matriculants venture into higher education or skills training once they've left school, not everyone has those opportunities easily available to them.
The youth from this town say that the free time they have leads them to alcohol instead, and that having access to skills development wouldn't only make their lives better, but would also make them feel as though they have rights.
South Africa has a shockingly high rate of unemployment, particularly amongst the youth, and has long been one of the most pressing socio-economic problems faced in the country.
One of the key contributors to South Africa’s youth unemployment rate sitting at these alarming rates, is that young work seekers lack sufficient skills, training development and work experience.
The group of young people in the town all have similar stories; they all passed matric in different years, but haven't gone on to do anything else after that. The only thing to do, they say, is to look forward to the weekend.
"I did my matric last year, [but] I didn't pass well. That's why I'm sitting at home," said one young person. "Sitting at home is not nice because you end up doing things you don't want to do," she adds, saying that the only thing they do is go out and drink because there is nothing else.
"All the time, we are sitting [and] watching TV, on Fridays we go to the grooves, but we don't have money. When we are at grooves, we feel free, there's no stress," said another young person.
The group says that staying at home makes them feel useless, and that it is as if their community is "not seen," and that they are treated as "nobodies". The community has a lot of problems relating to infrastructure, such poor roads, lack of water and electricity and issues with cell network.
"I don't know anyone that comes out of my community, I don't have a role model here," she added.
Government has launched and implemented a number of youth initiatives to combat this problem, such as the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), which was created to simultaneously provide assistance within South Africa's schools, and temporarily award unemployed youth with an employment opportunity.
