Unemployment is Expensive

Being unemployed in Namibia is a full-time job.

We’ve all seen the horrendous story on NBC of 6 000 people getting invited for written interviews for nine cleaner jobs in Ohangwena.

It wasn’t the first time.

In January, Nampa reported that when D&M Rail Construction at Otjiwarongo commenced its business for 2019, hundreds of people gathered outside the office, “demanding to be recruited”.

The Namibian reported in January that the Keetmanshoop police fired tear gas at local youths and arrested some for protesting against ‘struggle kids’ being given jobs at government agencies at the //Karas town without proper recruitment processes being followed or locals being considered.

The same paper carried a story in June on Karasburg residents protesting against the appointment of more than 100 people from other regions as general workers for a TransNamib railway construction project.

Examples of Namibia’s dire unemployment situation are too many to mention.

And it hits the most vulnerable the hardest, trapping those who have been unfortunate enough to only afford a government education in the perpetual snare of poverty and indignity.

Unemployment is expensive.

You need money for job hunting. You need to buy newspapers, pay for copies of CVs, be able to have or raise taxi fare at a drop of a hat to go certify those copies and submit them wherever there’s a vacancy.

You need data to send emails, airtime to call and even money to bribe human resources officers who have now resorted to selling jobs.

You know we are f***ed when even white people are looking for jobs on Facebook.

The Employment Equity Commission (EEC) said 36 822 employment contracts were terminated during the 2017/18 financial year.

This while the unemployment rate apparently decreased to 33,4% in 2018 from 34% in 2016. We know the unemployment statistics in Namibia are cooked but not even the biggest stats gymnasts could paint the figures in the regions in a favourable light.

Or are they worse? Kavango East boasts a youth unemployment rate of 62,5% while Kunene’s stood at 53% in 2018, according to the Namibia Statistics Agency.

Regions with the lowest unemployment rate for people under 35 are Omusati and Erongo at 39,7% and 36,8% respectively.

The indignity of not working possibly has long-term psychological effects. No wonder we are world-class drunks. Employed or not.

More and more young men stand on street corners of upmarket neighbourhoods in the sun all day long, hoping to be picked up for menial jobs for meagre pay. The gates of hardware stores are brimming with artisans with their toolboxes advertising their skills. Some even travel daily from nearby towns like Rehoboth and Okahandja.

There’s zero dignity in unemployment.

At your big age, you have to go buy two at the corner shebeen with Tafel empties for your uncle when he arrives from work.

You become the family’s cook, nanny, security guard, cleaner and messenger – for free. Or for cosmetics. And they’ll tell you how they have to buy you things while you do nothing.

You become everyone’s problem.

Even children can order you around. Older people will make snide remarks like “people who don’t work but have friends”.

Others will wake you up when they go to work as no one who is unemployed should sleep in.

When family visit, they’ll hear how you sleep all day and don’t even wash the dishes.

We know president Hage Geingob likes jokes but naming a ministry labour and employment creation and making Erkki Nghimtina boss of it is surely the biggest practical joke of all time.

Nghimtina recently said the private sector is not adequately using the conducive investment environment created by the government to deal with the high unemployment rate.

!

Somehow we still believe the private sector will rescue us with their high-level panels and conferences and workshops.

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