With youth unemployment at 45%, South Africa's Seta system struggles with corruption and outdated training, leaving many young people jobless. Experts are calling for urgent reforms and stronger NGO partnerships to bridge the gap between education and employment.

With youth unemployment at 45%, South Africa's Seta system struggles with corruption and outdated training, leaving many young people jobless. Experts are calling for urgent reforms and stronger NGO partnerships to bridge the gap between education and employment.

With youth unemployment at 45% for 15- to 34-yearolds, South Africa continues to grapple with a persistent and deepening challenge to get young people into jobs. For many of them the transition from higher education into meaningful, sustainable employment is fraught with frustration, uncertainty and systemic barriers.

This is why the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) were set up: to bridge this critical gap by ensuring sector-specific skills development that are aligned to needs, and by facilitating workplace-based learning opportunities.

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However, as Daily Maverick has reported, the nation's 21 Setas have been crippled by corruption, governance issues and substantial institutional challenges that have hindered them from fully realising their mandate - and the biggest losers of this failure are the young people the Setas are meant to empower.

"I trained as a stenographer for four months, then they sent me to train as a clerk of the court for another three months. I worked hard to learn everything I could because...