Youth Capital made a formal public submission to the Select Committee on Appropriations on the Special Appropriation Bill.
This moment mattered because it gave us a direct route to push for youth-centred fiscal decisions.We used the parliamentary process to make a clear call: the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) must be reinstated immediately as an emergency intervention. This follows the effective defunding of the BEEI, South Africa’s largest public employment programme for young people. Its budget has dropped from R5.6 billion to R340 million. Most of the remaining funds now appear to go toward administration rather than job creation. As a result, around 200,000 work opportunities have been lost in a single year.
What we highlighted in the submission:
- First, the 2026 Budget does not include a funded, measurable plan to address youth unemployment.
- Second, there is a growing disconnect between fiscal consolidation and the realities young people face every day.
- Third, there is an urgent need to protect and scale interventions that are already proving effective.
Watch our oral submission:
Our presentation runs from 52:00 to 1:03:00, and our Q&A responses run from 1:49:00 to 2:01:00.
At the centre of our submission was a clear ask:
- Reinstate the BEEI budget to previous levels (minimum R5.6 billion),
- Restore at least 200,000 annual work opportunities for young people,
- And recognise the BEEI as a core, ongoing national intervention.
The BEEI has consistently demonstrated its value, not only in creating work opportunities at scale, but in strengthening learning outcomes in schools. Its effective defunding represents a significant loss of both economic opportunity and social impact.This submission is part of our ongoing work to ensure that young people are not left out of the country’s fiscal future. We will continue to engage and advocate for the reinstatement of the BEEI and for a broader, coordinated response to youth unemployment.