Times Of Swaziland: GET US THE JOBS GET US THE JOBS ================================================================================ By Martin Dlamini (Managing Editor) on 18/10/2013 02:39:00 All the new MPs have secured lucrative jobs for themselves for the next five years, effective yesterday. Their immediate concern should now be to find jobs for the unemployed voters. The first stop is to find out what, exactly, government has in the pipeline towards job creation. The last time we checked, numerous projects were put on hold due to the fiscal challenges and this almost crippled the construction industry. For now, all those in the teaching profession can heave a sigh of relief as 4 000 teaching posts have been declared to meet the demand in the education sector. But where do all the other graduates go? Earlier this year we learnt of Taiwanese investments worth E100 million that are expected to flow into the country over the next two years, bringing 3 000 jobs. This amount covers five projects, which are to be rolled out in phases. One is a pharmaceutical plant with an anticipated investment of E25.5 million by Tex-Ray, Jojia Biotech and Taipei Medical University. There was a E10.6 million food processing plant and a bottled water plant worth E21.3 million. A cosmetics plant with an investment worth of E10.6 million has also been promised, to be followed by a granite and marble venture, where Tibiyo TakaNgwane and the Government of Swaziland are expected to partner with IGM and Tex-Ray in a E30.6 million investment. The projects were said to be ready to start and only required suitable premises, which we are told will be in the under-construction Royal Science, Technology and Biotechnology Parks at Bethany. Today, an energy company, American Tank and Vessel - which promised 300 jobs for skilled and unskilled labour - is being launched at Phuzumoya. The company has indicated its intentions to set up a hub for its operations to service the entirety of Southern Africa, which could mean further jobs. Potential News of a new electricity generating company, Services Global Power (PTY) LTD, setting up with a promise of about 200 jobs emerged this week for a 100 Megawatt photo-voltaic power plant. We do recall that the country is still without an independent source of power; having one would give greater confidence to potential investors. Plans to set up a thermal power plant appear to have been shelved by Cabinet, for unexplained reasons. The country is also anticipating the finalisation of the new contract to operationalise the Diamond Mine at ka Dvokolwako where more than 200 people are expected to find employment. The sugar industry has announced a fourth sugar mill to be constructed, in partnership with a Mauritius company, which is expected to start very soon. This will help increase sugar cane growing, adding to the job opportunities, we hope. The industry is also looking at the diversification of sugar products to create long-term, sustainable, jobs and save itself from the looming lapse of preferential trade benefits currently provided by the lucrative EU markets. In the ICT sector, new legislation has opened up the network for new players and the country eagerly awaits the regulator to put the matter up for tender following the appointment of a board to set the ball rolling. The former ICT minister has also intimated the possibility of a massive call centre that would service the international market, which is said to be a viable proposition. We are also aware of the drive to commercialise agriculture, although the provision of the necessary infrastructure and capacitation towards realising this objective appear far from becoming available. The above projects are just a few that are very important to the lives of the graduands of the University of Swaziland, the colleges and other training institutions. These graduands may not be too interested in the political headlines about who the next Prime Minister or Speaker of Parliament is as they join the world of work, or what’s left of it if any. This is a group of graduands who are part of the five per cent of school leavers who qualified to enrol in tertiary institutions. There appears to be no national action on addressing the 95 per cent that could not be admitted due to lack of space or scholarship. Then there are those who hardly make it to Form V, as recent research shows that only one in five pupils who start off at primary school level are able to make it through secondary school. What becomes of the dropouts is a question our new politicians will not only have to answer but take up and resolve, before we have too large a number of educated but idle minds. Acting Kontshingila Chief Gelane Zwane can best tell us what idle youth can get up to. So while the MPs are now home and dry with regular income about to come their way, let the gains be enjoyed countrywide by them seeing to it that all the above projects, and more, become viable projects with the provision of an enabling environment through appropriate legislation and oversight. That is the least we can ask in return for their salaries.