GOING TO VARSITY FOR NOTHING

(L-R) Condile Simelane, Hlobisile Shabangu and Tengetile Mkhonta graduated in Textile and Apparel Design Management two weeks ago. (Pics: Mfanukhona Nkambule)

KWALUSENI – Holders of university degrees in textile management may find it very hard to get employment that pays market-based salaries because most of the textile companies prefer school leavers.
The University of Swaziland (UNISWA) offers the Bachelor of Science in Textile, Apparel Design and Management.

It is a four-year degree programme and was launched four years ago.
It is an ongoing programme at UNISWA, with other students still pursuing it.  
At least four former students graduated two weeks ago at a ceremony graced by His Majesty the King as Chancellor of UNISWA.
The graduates are Condile Simelane, Nosihle Dlamini, Tengetile Mkhonta and Hlobisile Shabangu.

Textile companies offer on-the-job trainings to prospective workers. Most of these companies then pay relatively low salaries ranging from E600 to E800 on a fortnight basis.
Three of the four students who graduated, last Saturday told the Times SUNDAY that they had been on attachments to some of the big textile firms during their course of study. They said they had realised that employers in the textile industry did not recognise academic qualifications. 

The graduates in Textile and Apparel Design said it appeared they were prepared to pay salaries based on Form V certificates.
They said textile industry investors told them that they did not need degrees but were only concerned with energy and skill to produce quality clothes to sell to the United States of America.
“They told us that the sewing machines needed hands to operate, not degrees,” one of the graduates, Condile, said.
Tengetile said the programme offered by UNISWA was very important. She said they would have to raise capital to start their own businesses or help the Swaziland Standards Authority (SWASA) in designing programmes for promoting quality products in the textile country.

“Quality standards for the garments being produced by the textile companies must be set. We can play a pivotal role in setting the standards. We can’t waste time and look for jobs because they cannot afford us,” she said.
Said Condile: “His Majesty wants the nation to attain First World status and we can only achieve that if we start our own businesses. There is no need to look for employment because the textile firms can’t afford to pay salaries based on qualifications.”
Hlobisile Shabangu doubted if there was a textile firm that could pay salaries ranging from E8 000 to E15 000 per month to the holder of a degree in Textile, Apparel Design and Management.  She also lamented the country’s loss of trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

She said AGOA was very important in the socio-economic life of the citizens of the country.
She said lectures on AGOA were offered by the University of Swaziland. As a result, she said they were well-versed with the five benchmarks which the country ought to meet to regain the trade benefits.
“It is a pity that the country has lost trade benefits under AGOA at a crucial time when the country is maximising its potential to attain the First World status,” said Hlobisile. 
The interviewed graduates perfectly listed all the benchmarks.

The five conditions are: passage of amendments to the Industrial Relations Act allowing for the registration of trade union and employer federations in full; passage of the amendment to the Suppression of Terrorism Act; full passage of the amendment to the Public Order Act allowing for the full recognition of the freedom of assembly, speech, and organisation.
Others are full passage of the amendments to Sections 40 and 97 of the Industrial Relations Act and dissemination and implementation of the Code of Good Practice on Protest and Industrial Action.

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