adminbeen necessitated by statistics which show that at least 30 to 45 percent of those aged between 18 and 30 are unemployed.
What this means is that no matter which continent you come from, unemployment for young people is a major problem. This has led to toppling of governments in North Africa and has brought chaos to many countries in Africa where boy soldiers have been recruited by unscrupulous warlords to fight legitimate governments.
What then can governments do to create employment? Some governments are high in debt and are at the precarious position of failing to service their loans let alone find money to invest in new industries and infrastructure projects. One pertinent question is, even if factories are built, who will buy your products? Not only that, with indebtedness, where is the money going to come from? A lot has been said about investors. But many investors want to spend money on already going concerns.
That means they want to buy shares from such companies which they can trade shares to make more money. It does not add to the creation of jobs if ownership of existing companies changes hands.
We are being told that for Air Zimbabwe to be viable, it has to shed a lot of jobs. Some countries are laying off workers in the public service and in major corporations to save their economies.
Where is the policy of creation of jobs?
In Greece, the government has been forced not only to lay off workers but to cut benefits such as pensions and to reduce civil service salaries. This has brought the country to a standstill. The country cannot afford to repay its loans let alone create employment.
In Third World countries like Zimbabwe and even South Africa, the unemployment crisis can be managed by focusing on farming and rural development: small enterprise development and self-reliance strategies. Yes, mining and other ventures could bring money into Government coffers, but that would hardly create employment to such a scale that would make a dent on our employment statistics. Others call this a decentralisation process where taxes collected by Government are channelled into farming and rural development.
Already, we have young people who hold excellent qualifications but cannot get jobs.
Then comes the policy of empowering people to create their own employment. This policy requires Government support in providing the infrastructure like dams, roads and electricity. Those political parties that are looking outside the country on the assumption that there is money lying in foreign banks that can come into the country on a moment’s notice could just be day dreaming. The only
credible policy is to encourage our own people to direct their economic efforts into starting their own enterprises, either to manufacture products for local consumption or to sell to the region.
Another major policy is to create an environment which is conducive for entrepreneurs to make money. One small businessman has been complaining about endless visits by Zimra to his company to inspect his books and to make sure he is paying VAT and other taxes.
Recently, teachers have been targets to surrender the little incentives to the taxman which parents have scrapped together to ensure the education of their children. What is surprising is that churches that are raising millions of dollars do not pay any taxes.
Pastors and other church people live in palatial homes and drive the state-of-the-art cars while teachers, as poor as a church mouse, are deprived of a decent living. Parents are ensuring job creation by paying levies to keep the schools running. The Government should be grateful that one way of solving the unemployment crisis, is to allow parents to use their resources to funding the education of their children by employing extra staff. Sports clubs are doing the same with the employment of coaches and other staff. The Government should encourage ordinary people to create employment and not impede such development by asking for punitive taxes.
Online Reporter