Africa’s independence generation, largely born in the 1920s–1940s, faced a different but equally defining challenge – one of dismantling colonial rule and inventing nations.
Over the past century, every generation has come of age amid disruption, and has been judged by how it transformed pressure into progress.
From the youth of the early 20th century, who endured global wars and colonial domination, to Africa’s independence-era generations, which built states from scratch, to today’s digitally native cohorts navigating inequality and climate stress, the record is clear: youth energy can either fracture societies or forge them. The difference lies in leadership, organisation, and purpose.
The so-called “Greatest Generation” (those born roughly before and around World War I) experienced hardship early, yet channelled sacrifice into rebuilding institutions after catastrophe. Globally, this cohort helped establish post-war governance frameworks, expanded public education, and invested in infrastructure. These were choices that prioritised long-term stability over short-term expression.
Africa’s independence generation, largely born in the 1920s–1940s, faced a different but equally defining challenge – one of dismantling colonial rule and inventing nations.
Youth movements, trade unions, student associations, and rural mobilisation were central. Importantly, these movements emphasised discipline, mass education, unity across ethnic lines, and moral restraint in pursuit of political goals. Protest existed, but it was tethered to strategy and nation-building.
For me, three leaders exemplify how youthful conviction, when guided by ethical leadership, can produce durable change:
l Nelson Mandela emerged from a generation that combined resistance with reconciliation. While apartheid provoked justified anger, Mandela’s leadership insisted on institution-building, constitutionalism, and national healing.
Youth activism was encouraged to be organised, principled, and inclusive, an approach that prevented civil war and enabled democratic transition with global credibility.
l The late Abeid Amani Karume, a product of Zanzibar’s revolutionary moment, prioritised social equity, mass literacy, and access to health and education after 1964.
His era’s youth were mobilised into cooperatives and public service, embedding social transformation into everyday life rather than episodic unrest. He is credited for the Zanzibar Decree Number Six (6) of the 1964 Constitution that stipulated equality for all.
l Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere placed education and ethical leadership at the centre of Tanzania’s project. His emphasis on ujamaa, however debated in some economic terms, successfully fostered national cohesion, widespread literacy, and a civic culture that rejected ethnic politics. Youth were called to service, self-reliance, and rural development, not merely protest.
The impact of these approaches is measured through the rapid gains in literacy, expanded primary healthcare, national unity across diverse societies, and political stability that outlasted the founding leaders. Crucially, youth participation was very constructive and usually organised through schools, cooperatives, youth leagues, and national service.
Today’s youth: Grievances without blueprints?
Africa’s current generations, the Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and those to come, are the largest, most connected, and most educated cohorts the continent has ever produced. Their grievances are real: unemployment, corruption, unequal growth, climate shocks, and exclusion from decision-making.
Digital platforms have amplified voice and speed, enabling rapid mobilisation.
Yet too often, expression outruns strategy. Riots, strikes, and destruction of public assets (sometimes sparked by legitimate demands) can undermine young nations by eroding trust, deterring investment, and damaging shared infrastructure. Unlike earlier generations that paired dissent with institution-building, today’s movements many a time lack durable organisations, negotiated trails, and policy-ready alternatives.
This is not a moral failing of youth; it is a leadership and systems gap. Where channels for participation are weak, frustration spills over. Where civic education is thin, protest becomes performative. Where economic lanes are unclear, anger substitutes for planning.
A constructive blueprint for the next chapter in Zanzibar
As Zanzibar gears up to mark the 62nd anniversary of the 1964 Revolution, Africa’s youth can reclaim a tradition of disciplined, future-facing activism, updated for the 21st century. Again, for me, four key arenas offer immediate, scalable impact:
1. Digital transformation: Move from online outrage to digital production. Build platforms for e-government transparency, fintech inclusion, civic data, and local content creation. Youth-led startups can solve public problems while creating jobs. Here the Revolutionary government of Zanzibar must design deliberate systems and hubs (Silicon Valley type) to tap, harness, and promote such endeavours and initiatives.
2. Agroforestry and agro-tourism: Climate-smart agriculture, Karafuu tree-crop integration, and value-added processing can raise incomes and restore ecosystems. Youth cooperatives can link farms, oceans and coasts to tourism markets, branding African, Afro-Arab, food and landscapes globally.
3. Conservation and sports tourism: Given that tourism contributes more than 31 percent of Zanzibar’s GDP, it is crucial to innovative and creative design programs and products ranging from community-managed conservation to sports academies and events, these sectors create employment while protecting Zanzibar’s unique and pristine cultural heritage. National youth leadership in this regard ensures sustainability and global competitiveness.
With energy demand rising by the day largely due to the huge development investments and undertakings by Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi and his government, Zanzibar’s young people have an excellent opportunity to focus on solar energy generation and storage. This too demands the right conditions and amenities to be harnessed, a huge opportunity for Tanzania’s youth.
History’s lesson has never been to silence youth, but to empower them with purpose. Mandela, Karume, and Nyerere demonstrated that principled leadership can turn youthful energy into institutions, dignity, and growth. Today’s African youth inherit more tools than any generation before them. The task is to pair voice with vision, speed with strategy, and passion with policy.
Nation-building is not an event; it is a discipline. Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan and Dr Ali Hussein Mwinyi have started off well by establishing new ministries purposely to cater for the young people, and for that I give them kudos! That is a good start. However, mine is a simple and polite reminder: the future belongs to the organised, to those who deliberately build it.
Bryan Toshi Bwana is the Founding Trustee of Umoja Conservation Trust (UCT). www.umojaconservation.org
