Johannesburg – The current generation of youth face a different struggle compared to that of 1976, President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday.

“The youth is now empowered by the Constitution and the laws of the land to participate fully in building a better life,” he said at a Youth Day celebration in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, according to a copy of his speech.

“The youth of 1976 were made not to be full citizens of this country. They were made to be pariahs in their motherland and could not influence or participate in decision-making in their own country.”

What was common between the two generations was that both were building a better life for all. 

Now the fight was against drugs, substance abuse, crime, gangsterism, child and women abuse, teenage pregnancy, truancy, mob justice and xenophobia, Zuma said.

SAPA