SOCIETAL CHANGE
TRUDI MAKHAYA: Youth face ceilings despite democracy
The prospects of upward mobility, of each generation doing better than the previous one, are too limited
Viewed through the lens of the economy, 2017 has been a terrible year for SA, its awfulness compounded by the fact that the most significant negative events were of the country’s own making. One development that dominated the headlines — the revision of the country’s credit rating to subinvestment grade or, indelicately, to junk status — is an outcome of home-grown institutional disintegration. At this time of the year, I usually feel quite optimistic about the future of SA. This is when I am privileged to meet a diverse set of young men and women who have applied for the Rhodes scholarship. Most senior Rhodes scholars think the classes that come behind them are more impressive than their own.We tend to wonder: if I had competed against this pool, would I have made it? The achievements appear to become more remarkable with time. The candidates’ level of self-awareness of their place in this society and in history is admirable too. What is disturbing is the sense one gets that the ch...
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