Youths in Sesheke have appealed to the government and its cooperating partners to consider constructing industries in the area in order to create employment.
The youths say they depend on crossing over to neighbouring Namibia to look for short-term employment and conduct their shopping.
Speaking in an interview , Mbangweta Waku’numa from Katima Mulilo area in Sesheke district said the district does not have any industries, making it difficult for youths in the area to earn a living.
Mr Waku’numa said the only way youths in the area survive is going to seek employment in Namibia.
“Since we don’t have any industries here, we depend on going to our neighbours in Namibia where we look for employment and sometimes we are even taken advantage of but we have nowhere to report to because that’s where our income comes from,” he said.
Mr Waku’numa said despite Zambia helping Namibia gain its independence, that country developed faster than Zambia hence most youths in Sesheke depend on the neighbouring country to purchase cheap goods.
“We go to Namibia to do odd jobs such as cattle herding and house help. That is why we are asking the government to empower us by constructing developmental structures,” he added.
Mr Waku’numa further called for the completion of Sesheke Trades Training Institute in order to equip the youths with skills development.
“The construction of Sesheke Trades, whose construction started a long time ago, would have provided the unemployed youths with different skills but unfortunately the construction works have stalled for a long time,” he said.
Another Sesheke youth, Chindele Mbalasu, said having a shopping mall in the area will assist many residents who depend on purchasing cheap goods from neighbouring Namibia.
“Over dependency is not a good thing, sometimes we are taken advantage of in Namibia because we depend on them to buy cheap goods from their shopping malls hence the government and its cooperating partners would really assist us if they constructed even a shopping mall here,” he said.
However, Sesheke District Commissioner, Alex Namenda has described the cross-border trade between Sesheke and Namibia as stable.
Mr Namenda said the good relationship between Zambia and Namibia has existed for a long time even before that country gained its independence.
“The people of Zambia and Namibia come a long way hence the relationship between the two countries is good as is evident by the many Zambians that cross over to Namibia to conduct their shopping there,” he said.
Mr Namenda said it is unfortunate that at the moment, Sesheke does not have any big shopping centre, as a result, people in the district conduct most of their shopping in the neighbouring country.
The unemployment issue is the biggest ever challenge in our country. If this particular issue is sorted out, it unlocks the potential of our country. And what does not help is our school curriculum which is tailored on people looking for jobs after school, with bank lending rates in Zambia that are extremely harsh for start ups. The solution is state farms in all the ten provinces swallowing atleast 100,000 unemployed people in each province and get 1 million people of all proffessions instantly into jobs. The world market is yawning for agriculture produce.
A President who will come and solve the unemployment issue in one way or the other will be the most successful. The 60,000 Teachers, medical and defence personnel being employed now are two paltry to have an impact on such a huge unemployment base. Self-employment is also not easy in such a tough environment, there are some trying in the same environment, but they are too few. We had 10 years of wasted time by the PF which UPND needs to sprint to sort out and stop pointing fingers and work. We know PF leaders thought donations to various groups was development, this narrative needs to be corrected immediately