Govt issues 46 121 temporary work permits

Amid the high unemployment rate signalled by His Majesty King Mswati III in his speech in Parliament recently, the country has issued 46 121 temporary work permits between 2015 and 2021.

According to the 2017 Eswatini National Census, 36 per cent migrated into the country for employment.

A migration in Eswatini country profile, which was made possible by a dedicated team of national technical working group that was drawn from various government ministries, United Nations (UN) agencies and civil society, has depicted the temporary work permits in the aforementioned period.

The migration profile was done with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) a leading intergovernmental organisation on migration, which has supported countries around the world in preparing their respective migration profiles.

Minister of Home Affairs Princess Lindiwe said this migration profile was an important tool that compiled evidence necessary for informed and coherent migration policy development and cross-institutional cooperation on migration in Eswatini.

Harness

“The migration profile for Eswatini is a development tool that will help the Government of Eswatini and its key partners understand the dynamics of migration in the country. This will help the country harness the benefits of migration and also minimise similar negative impacts,” she said.

Administrative data from the Immigration Department shows that there are 10 types of employment permits that vary with the purpose of residence in the country and over the period of 2015–2021, a total of 46 121 temporary residence work permits were issued.

Of the total permits, 81 per cent were provided to males compared to 19 per cent for females.

South Africa was the country with the most work permits issued at 36.2 per cent (16 697), followed by Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan at 11.1 per cent (5 125), 6.9 per cent (3 184) and 6.2 (2 855) per cent, respectively. According to the National Skills Audit report (Government of Eswatini, 2021), a minority of the companies and establishments (three per cent) employed international migrants due to a plethora of reasons.

Relevant

Some of the reasons for importing skills are as follows: (a) Lack of relevant or industry-related skills; (b) new/start-up companies need experienced skills to support establishment; (c) lack of experienced experts in specific fields; and (d) ownership of the enterprise.

For instance, multinational companies (with group ownership) or companies where the investors, directors or founders are non-emaSwati have imported skills.

For the tourism and hospitality sector, as depicted in the migration profile report, the need to import skills rises from the lack of skills and experience in the country, while the sector also needs high-level skills to maintain and meet international standards.

Companies in this sector are owned by enterprises or people from South Africa, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China (Taiwan) or Pakistan.

The migration profile stipulates that in education, the skills imported in this sector are from Zimbabwe, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Botswana, with a few from outside Africa (such as the United States and Belgium).