In the recent State of the Nation address, President Ramaphosa blissfully announced that “the rate of unemployment is starting to decline”. Yet it stands a 42.1%, with youth unemployment around 57%. Many young graduates spend their days trimming extensive qualifications from their CVs, just to increase their chances of securing employment. And those who are employed face significant challenges in establishing themselves professionally and breaking free from the socio-economic constraints of their communities.
Internships were introduced in 1998 to enhance employment prospects and help transfer and develop essential skills among graduates. Yet companies are not hiring interns, and internships have become extremely difficult to secure and to live on.
Many young graduates in South Africa continue to be trapped in the cycle of internship, entry-level and contract-based jobs. Low-paying employment obstructs the development of many young people in South Africa trying to escape poverty.
Inadequate pay
In December 2025, StatsSA estimated that 70% of people in South Africa under the age of 35 are classified as poor and living below the poverty line. 720,000 young people, according to IOL, continue to be in student debt. On a stipend, after food and rent, many are left with close to no money for their other basic needs.
Entry-level job gross salaries are typically reduced by a combination of deductions and voluntary benefit contributions, such as PAYE, UIF, medical aid, and retirement fund, before they receive their salaries.
SETA internships pay between R2,000 and R7,500 per month, although interns do not always get paid every month due to administrative payment delays. Many government internships pay R7,000 to R8,000 per month for 24 months, and many private companies pay their interns R10,000 per month before tax. Entry-level jobs in general pay between R8,000 and R15,000 per month.
The reality is that internships in South Africa do not pay enough for graduates to live a decent life. Take the example of an internship at the Presidency. This provides a stipend of R7,450.63 for people with a bachelor’s or honours degree. An average apartment in Pretoria costs R5,000 (unfurnished). Even if you do not move out of home, the average cost of the Household Food Basket is R5,329,36 per month. Monthly transport costs, on average, are R680 in Pretoria for people using minibus taxis, and R4,600-R6,900 for Uber. And this does not factor in people travelling from outside of Pretoria. And then there are healthcare costs, student loans, and young people who are heads of households. And students who have taken out student loans have to start paying them off as soon as they start getting an income. How do these people survive?
A question of class
If you come from a disadvantaged background and depend on a stipend to help your family or uplift yourself, R3,500 is not enough. This economic barrier shows that some internships are only for privileged people who can still rely on external parties to help them with day-to-day necessities and are fortunate enough to use the internship stipend as pocket money.
Interns who do not live close to their workplaces face the additional financial strain of heightened transport fees or relocation costs. Decades after apartheid formally ended, the spatial apartheid era geography remains a reality for many South Africans. This has continued to limit their access to economic opportunities.
Exploitation of young graduate workers
Interns and contract workers are often expected to work harder and longer hours than permanent employees; they continue to do that in the hopes that they will get a permanent job. This also adds a security risk. It entails going to work earlier or leaving work later, which exposes people to high levels of crime.
And interns do not get employee benefits. No medical aid, no pension, no insurance or even paid leave.
People with multiple degrees, including postgraduate degrees, are earning R3,500 and not being absorbed into companies, while people with the same qualifications or even less qualifications earn more. It is important for employers to create fair working practices for graduates and find ways to absorb them into companies instead of just replacing them. Employers have a responsibility to help reduce poverty by providing more stability for graduates and temporary workers.
Reabetswe Maputla is a young, passionate Pan-Africanist and advocate for social justice. They work as a research assistant at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at Wits University. While identifying as a woman, they prefer not to be confined to traditional gender labels.
*Featured image by Karabo Mdluli on Unsplash
