Unemployed youth and TVET college graduates could soon see new career opportunities as South Africa’s defence sector commits to expanding local manufacturing and skills training, a move coming as the country’s youth jobs crisis deepens.South Africa is facing chronic youth unemployment. According to Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q1 2026, the youth unemployment rate for ages 15-34 rose to 45.8%, up 2.0 percentage points from the previous quarter. That means 4.7 million young people are unemployed, and 258,000 youth lost jobs in just three months. For those aged 15-24 the situation is even more acute, with unemployment exceeding 60%.
Following the three-day Defence Industry Lekgotla in Pretoria, industry leaders announced a plan to triple defence exports.By taking foreign sales from R10 billion to R30 billion annually, sector leaders aim to run local factories at full capacity and create steady apprenticeships for young South Africans.Michelle Nxumalo, representing the Lekgotla’s Localisation and Exports Commission, said this export drive will support practical youth development initiatives, including multi-year apprenticeship programmes through institutions like the Denel Technical Academy. 
She said these programmes provide practical training in high-demand trades such as welding, fitting and turning, mechanical fitting, and electrical work.Highlighting the link between global trade and local youth jobs, Nxumalo explained that higher export volumes directly drive workplace training.“From an export element, if we get additional exports and we reach that target of R30 billion, it means that our factories will be running, and we will be needing more skilled engineers and technical people to be able to manufacture the equipment that is required to reach these targets,” she said.
She said export revenue acts as an economic enabler across the sector, allowing local manufacturing hubs to invest in talent development. “Once we bring in those orders into the country, then we get skills development, we get a contribution to the economy,” Nxumalo said.Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau said South Africa’s strong engineering foundation gives global partners confidence to invest locally.“Global original equipment manufacturers have chosen to locate operations and joint ventures in South Africa. That is a vote of confidence in our engineers, our technicians and our supply base,” Tau said. “This is not a domestic industry that happens to export. It is an export industry that happens to be domestic.”
The Department of Employment and Labour has called the persistent high youth unemployment “alarmingly high” and said it requires “urgent and collective action from all social partners”. With nearly half of young job seekers currently unable to find work, the defence sector’s plan is being watched as one of several attempts to absorb technical graduates.As the Lekgotla ends, the focus shifts to real action. For technical graduates and unemployed youth, the true test of the summit will be on factory floors, where turning these export targets into signed contracts will decide if real jobs and apprenticeships finally open up.
