Lack of employment haunts Lentsweletau youth

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Wednesday February 3, 2010 00:00

 

A quick survey of the village revealed that most of the youth laze about doing nothing; some walk about aimlessly while others are gathered around drinking spots in the village drinking their sorrows away.  When Mmegi arrived at Lentsweletau Kgotla a considerable number of the young people were attending the meeting called by the newly installed Kgosi Oletile Makgasane.

Much later the Mmegi team learnt that the youth were not at the kgotla for the meeting but were on a job-seeking mission as they had heard that Ipelegeng and Green Scorpions were hiring casual labourers later in the day. Thirty-three-year-old Innocent Tswadi of Goora Tshosa ward told Mmegi that he arrived at the Kgotla at 5 am to increase his chances of finding employment.

Tswadi who looked older than his purported age said he has worked as a casual labourer most of his working life. 'I came here very early in the morning and I cannot risk going home for lunch because I am afraid that if I leave, they will hire people in my absence,' he told Mmegi.

Tswadi said that he once worked for a motel in Tlokweng, between 1994 and 1996, and ever since he lost his job, he has never been able to secure a permanent one.

The young man said that he dreads the day when he will have a child since he would not be able to support it. He further said that his parents are disappointed in him because they expect him to be the major breadwinner in the family.  Tlamelo Monanole of Goo Moloi ward also said she arrived at the Kgotla at around 5 am in the hope of getting a job.  The 30-year-old mother of four children said that she came in the hope of securing a job with either Ipelegeng or the Green Scorpions. She told Mmegi that she had already tried her luck with the Green Scorpions to no avail.

'My family survives on my grandmother's food basket and we are finding it difficult to cope,' said Monamolole who added that her unemployed sister also has three children of her own, making the food basket too small.

Kelebogile Tshiamo also from Goo Moloi ward finished her Form Three in 2005 and soon after she got a job as a 'maid'. She lost the job when her employer relocated and since then things have taken a downward spiral. 'I have been living a very tough life since my mother died in 2008. I know my father very well but he is not willing to help me anyhow,' she lamented.

The ambitious Tshiamo said that she hoped that she would get a job that would pay her at least P 800 but she knows that the only jobs she can get in the village would pay her P 360. Mphoentle Sebape of Bobididid ward said that she finished her schooling in Lentsweletau and worked for a 'firm' in Gaborone for eight months.  The mother of three children said that she is suffering because she is unable to support her children and that the money she gets from the 'piece-jobs' is too little to sustain her family. 'I am hopeful that I am going to get a job with Ipelegeng because the scorpions said that they could not hire me as they have hired me before,' she said. Kgosi Makgasane concurred with the youth that there was lack of employment in his village. 'We are aware of the employment situation here in our village and the main reason for that is we do not have enough facilities to create employment for our youth,' he said adding that he feared that the situation contributed to drunkenness and crime which he said were rife in the village.

As the Mmegi team left the village, the youth scrambled to a designated place in hopes of being hired.  The Kgosi had earlier told Mmegi that the system that Ipelegeng used to employ people did not favour the responsible youths of the village.   He said that the employers cast ballots and who ever picked a 'yes' would get a job while a 'no' would mean no job, a system he said did not work in favour of responsible residents.