MORE than 1,000 Zambian and Zimbabwean youths from Siavonga and Kariba town, among them university graduates, yesterday thronged the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) offices in Zimbabwe to seek employment as cleaners at the multinational regulatory company.
The Kariba border post, which is usually empty due to low traffic between Zambia and Zimbabwe, was by as early as 06 hours jammed with job seekers from Siavonga and surrounding areas who were found processing border passes to cross into Zimbabwe for interviews as office orderlies.
The job interviews, which were originally slated for Monday, were moved to Thursday after ZRA officers failed to control the multitude of people who had camped outside their premises to submit their job application letters.
Job seekers, who lined up the entire Mahombekombe road in Kariba town where the ZRA mechanical workshop and offices are located in Zimbabwe, were answering to an advertisement by the river authority that intended to recruit 20 sweepers and cleaners.
The financial and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe coupled with the depletion of fish in Lake Kariba has left many people, especially youths, jobless in Kariba Town in Zimbabwe while lack of industries in the resort town of Siavonga has rendered many youths destitute.
The high unemployment levels has also forced many youths especially girls in the two communities to venture into prostitution and other dangerous vices that puts them at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
The Zambezi River Authority, which is co-owned by Zambia and Zimbabwe, is said to other goodconditions of work and pays its low ranking employees such as office orderlies and sweepers better than what an average Government school teacher or nurse gets in the two neighboring countries.
The company, which oversees and regulates usage of water in the Zambezi River, will employ over 500 people from both Zambia and Zimbabwe when it launches its US$294 million Kariba Dam wall rehabilitation project which will be undertaken over 10 years.
What a sad sight…if only we invested half of what we send on overpriced $1million /km roads into Agriculture a lot of these energetic youth would be employed.
Uko!
Lungu is smelling the aromas of change & no amount of ECZ’s 7 trucks stuffed with pre~marked ballots can never change the Tsunami that will entangle visionless & violent PF of Lungu into political oblivion. Where is Lungu’s 500,000 lipstick jobs?
Unfortunately so for Lungu & PF bandits, their short term pathological lies have been caught. In 3 days voting wisely forward & change for HH et al UPND is unstoppable, even Lungu knows about it.
Its Viva HH, Viva UPND & Viva Forward.
Look Forward & Vote Wisely.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
Let them Sontapo. You notice how the the so called Sontists keep quiet when real issues like this get reported. They go into hibernation. And yet, the 1000 young people include their own relatives.
And someone he is busy saying all is well, there is nothing to fix. Simply because him and his family are having more than they need. PF kuya bebele. Agony is when one cannot see his own shortcomings to a point he preaches them as being positive.
We hope they camp to vote next week.
Where are the 500,000 promised by Alungu?
How embarrasing for a University graduate to sweep floors. What job will the grade 7 drop-outs have? Our sisters /moms/daughters are being raped in exchange for jobs. We need to remove ka-chakolwa from plot-1.
Anyone who votes for PF needs to be taken straight from the voting station to Chainama Hospital.
But I hear ECL has already created 500,000 jobs for them in Zambia. Why crossover to Zimbabwe?
kikikikikiki, ECL its only loo looo loooo looooo lo dununa reverse
It is sad that Zambian educational system teaches people how to be dependent on politicians and not on themselves. Kenneth David Kaunda tried to teach the principal of Self Reliance, I remember my grade 5/6 Social studies, it was good but unfortunately he did concurrently with providing completely free education up to University Level.
The damage that free education instilled in those who benefited from it was that, they also learnt that they could only survive on free things. Thats why the crop that was educated by Kaunda has failed to develop this nation, they are not creative.
Please stop pretending you are more enterprising that you actually are. PF has destroyed the business environment in the country because of their cluelessness.
This is disgusting. How can graduates have no jobs. Yet our mines are being sold to Lebanese , Indians, Greeks etc! These creatures mistreat Zambian employees and all the money is going back to their countries!
That is because you teach your graduates the hardware. Teach them the software that runs the hardware also. It is one thing to have knowledge but another to have the capacity to use it.
Nonsense! Our graduates are more than capable of running our mines? Instead these Lebanese, Indians and Greeks bribe government officials with their dirty drug money to obtain mines, land etc.
The sad reality of our current status, time to substitute the tired political players and bring in new energy and plans to stop the reverse in economic gains that ba Mwanawasa left us and shift the gear FORWARD to where we can try to avoid the PF’s cry for help in an IMF bail out package. By God’s grace, the fine young men and women in team UPND, will bring back hope next week.
Well said! I am a close follower. Zambia is redeemable and this can only be done by ensuring that we do exactly what you stated. Vision less politicians should not be given chance to continue sabotaging our country and its economy.
People should learn to be self-reliant and create sources of income for themselves instead of waiting for some else to be entrepreneurial and offer them a job. And if you have to wait for Lungu to create jobs you will wait in vain forever. The man is busy sorting himself first and so far has pocketed $millions already. The harsh economic environment in Zambia should be enough to teach anybody never to rely on govt or anybody for that matter to provide jobs for them.
YOU ARE THE MAN, WANTANSHI
It is places like this where the loud PF kaponya bloggers take cover from. You won’t find them here where economic issues affecting are people are reported.
But you will find them stalking HH at any other chance they have. You will only find them under reports of violence and when HH says something.
People of zambia if you want a better zambia for all zambians let’s get rid of these riff raff PF thugs in state house.
I already said it, our children deserve better than the lot they now suffer at the hands of greedy, thieving and incompetent Lungu.
Youth rise up on 11/8 and free yourselves from Lungu PF excruciating suffering and shame and agony.
Dununa Forward…..Zambia Forward!!!
Graduates must create jobs not look for jobs
@SOCATOA, how do you create jobs when you have no capital to start with? And not all graduates are trained in business. Some need a job first, to raise enough capital to start their own venture. It’s the duty of the government to create jobs in the country, also to help people start businesses, , and to help the private sector create jobs. Lack of jobs in the country is a direct reflection of the government’s performance and policies. You cannot blame high unemployment rates on graduates, when it’s the government’s responsibility to find ways to help create jobs for them. So with your statement, if a graduate came to you and asked you to train him/her on how to start and run a business, and also to help him/her with capital, would you help him/her with that? If your answer is no,…
(Continued)…@SOCATOA, … then your statement is completely nonsensical. Have you ever wondered why some countries have jobs and others do not? And why job seekers move from their jobless countries to other countries, where the leadership know how to create jobs? I hope you’re not part of the current ruling party. Because you really seem clueless. Start by researching on how a government can help create jobs in a country, and see what you discover.
Spot on ! Felix,some people smoke before they write
How can graduates start businesses when banks will not give them loans? Meanwhile they hand out loans to Lebanese, Indians and Greeks with their dirty money.
This is a shameful report on our youths . What is happening to our beautiful Zambia!? Why should we reduce graduates to cleaners and sweepers ! !!? The Authority needed only 20 youths but look at the number that turned in their applications – 1000 chasing 20 slots . Things are that BAD . SHAME!
this shows that PF govt has failed. what a pointer that we desperately need change