PhD graduate can’t find work
HE IS the youngest person to graduate with a PhD in engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
But instead of celebrating, Dr Lukhanyo Mekuto, 28, is frustrated that he has been unable to find a job in the last few months and is sitting at home unemployed.
“I’ve been looking for a job since February after I submitted my PhD thesis. It frustrates me and it makes me feel at times that I have wasted my time,” he said.
Mekuto said that there have been postdoctoral position offers from countries like Turkey and Finland, however he is disappointed that there has been no offers from South Africa.
“I have been applying, though without any success,” he said.
Mekuto, from Brown’s Farm in Philippi, is the only child of a domestic worker and the first one in his family to not only get postgraduate, but also undergraduate degrees. Mekuto graduated as a Doctor of Engineering: Chemical and received a Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers from the National Research Foundation (NRF).
“I feel great and it makes me feel proud to achieve this,” said Mekuto.
However his joy is tinged with the knowledge that he is unemployed. Mekuto uses his free time to tutor mathematics and physics to grade 11 and 12 pupils from Philippi on Saturdays.
“I hope to use my PhD as a motivation to those who come from the same environment as mine,” he said.
Mekuto’s interest in engineering was ignited when he read about cattle deaths in KwaZulu-Natal due to cyanide poisoning in 2012. The cyanide came from their water, which was contaminated by mining activities in the area. He said his thesis investigated ways in which micro-organisms can be used to break up the cyanide into its component elements. Mekuto said that he was able to obtain his PhD through hard work and determination.