There is need for government to say just what plans they have for youth unemployment.
If there are none, the government should also say so.
This is because the levels of youth unemployment have now reached a crisis point.
Every year our education system churns out thousands of youth into the streets to look for jobs that are non-existent.
That should get us all worried.
More worried should be people who have put their investments into this country because once the situation implodes, as it is bound to do, it is they who stand to lose out much more than the rest of us.
It is our considered view that the levels of youth unemployment have reached levels where they easily qualify not as a time bomb, as we have classified in the past, but rather as imminent security threat.
Mention has in the near past been made of such creations like Tirelo Sechaba, internship and Youth Fund.
Our view is that those are only good in as far as they are stop gap measures.
They cannot in any measure be counted as solutions to the crisis that we have at hand.
We want to remind the authorities that the high levels of unemployment that by the way have been prevailing for many years now have resulted in a groundswell of anger, resentment and disillusionment among our young people.
With such a situation it will take a small spark for there to be social chaos.
Such chaos will erode whatever confidence the international investors may still have in our economy.
This is because people who feel vulnerable economically such as is the case with our youth at the moment are susceptible to violence and all kinds of influence. When that time comes no security apparatus, no matter how well equipped or loyal to the party in power can manage to contain the outburst.
Besides unemployment, education is yet another thing that this government has literally turned its back against.
Many business leaders complain that even when they have openings, they are not able to employ school leavers because many of our graduates have owing to many years of decay in our education system become un-employable. That is tragic. Our fear is that while they cannot be absorbed in any gainful employment, such young people could still be found useful by some people with nefarious intentions.
The decline in our education standard can very easily be traced to a lack of political will on the part of our leadership.
Throwing money into the education budget while not making concerted efforts to ensure that other players like teachers, parents the and industry play a role can only lead to the decline that we are now experiencing.
It cannot be enough for government to say the budget is enough while classrooms are broken, schools dilapidated and morale among teachers at the lowest in a generation.
Our view is that the current government has its priorities wrong.
Too much emphasis has gone towards such sectors like tourism, security all at the expense of other equally important economic sectors.
