TUCOSWA challenges govt to bridge market gaps

The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) Secretary General Mduduzi Gina, pointed to the issue of skills gap in the market, asserting that they had discussed this matter in different forums.

He revealed that what was currently obtaining on the ground was a mismatch as government was sponsoring students that would end up not being absorbed by the market due to an over-supply of their skills.

He mentioned that at policy level, government had to be deliberate in ensuring that the students were enrolled at tertiary based on the needs of the market or industry so that the country could have its own specialists or experts, not ones imported from other countries.

“Eswatini is priding itself to be a literate nation and true to that, the workforce is literate but there is a gap in the market that can only be bridged through a skills audit to determine the market gaps,” he said.

Limiting

Gina said another challenge was that there were not many industries in the country, something that was a limiting factor in terms of acquiring practical experience for graduates.

Swaziland Unemployed People’s Movement President Lucky Dlamini said there was no political commitment from government to curb unemployment in the country and this was evident because the last skills audit survey was done in 2021, whereas it should be done yearly. “This is a leadership issue, there is no political will from government to tackle unemployment and we will continue importing skilled personnel if the attitude remains the same,” he said. Dlamini said the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development should have a strategy that would ensure that young people were educated on the skills that were lacking in the market and there should be constant documentation of the graduates to determine how many have been absorbed by the market.