Job seekers throng labour offices
Innocent Selatlhwa | Thursday January 7, 2016 18:00
Some of the job seekers said they had been spending nights at the labour offices since Saturday. When the Mmegi team visited the offices yesterday morning, hundreds could be seen in queues outside the premises under the scorching heat. Gates were locked to control the numbers of those being helped inside. Many others could be seen seated in their cars and others under trees.
Karabo Tsobane said he was looking for any job he could get. “I hold a dump truck operator certificate. I have been registering with this office since 2009 but never got a permanent job,” he said.
Tsobane said he was one of the first to come and has been spending nights at the offices since Saturday and only managed to register on Tuesday.
“It is however discouraging that even though some of us had to go through what we went through to register before others, there is nepotism,” he said.
“Some of the officers give the jobs to their friends and families.” He however said getting any job would not discourage him because he hoped to get a permanent job.
In the past, labour offices were hunting grounds for employers looking for blue-collar job seekers. The situation has since changed with candidates with master’s degrees and other equivalent qualifications. Government is the main employer. Job seekers are expected to apply for placement every year and re-register at the beginning of each year. Botswana’s unemployment rate is around 19 percent and it was expected that the newly established Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) would create more jobs in the construction sector, tourism, agriculture and manufacturing.