Unemployment continues to bite in Selebi-Phikwe

Speaking to The Monitor last week, a graduate from Helderburg College in Cape Town, South Africa, Thebe Pelotshweu explained that he has been searching for a job in the town since 2007. He said there are many graduates from the University of Botswana and other training institutions roaming the streets of Selebi-Phikwe because they have done courses that are not marketable in the area.

He said most of his colleagues have done courses that are not relevant to the mining industry because BCL Mine is the biggest employer in the town. "As youth, we want to develop this town but if we come up with good ideas we are not able to get funding. They expect us to come up with ideas in the agricultural sector which is not our interest. The government has sponsored us for tertiary education but now we have been left in the dark. We really do not understand how these things operate," said the disappointed Pelotshweu.