BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– Ahead of the budget speech and Parliament opening, the government has announced that in the coming financial year, they are looking at creating at least 12 000 new jobs in various sectors.
This was announced by the Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini during his summary of the cabinet’s retreat.
The retreat was an opportunity for Cabinet to take stock of the challenges and successes of the soon-to-end financial year, and using those to plan for the coming year.
The PM said since Government launched the Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan in August 2020, they have seen a number of significant investments coming into the country, despite several challenges that included the pandemic itself as well as the 2021 social unrest.
“In the coming financial year, we are looking at creating at least 12 000 new jobs in various sectors such as mining, agro-processing, energy, financial services, real estate, textile and manufacturing.
“We do, however, note that there are still a number of challenges hampering investment growth that we need to address. These include reconsideration of the work permits policy and making it more objective and transparent to investors,” said the PM.
In addition to that, he said as such, the cabinet resolved to set up a committee that comprises all relevant stakeholders, which will sit down to strategise on how best this matter can be expedited, right up to policy and legislative level if necessary.
Dlamini further said there may be a need to benchmark with other countries that the country competes against.
“Closely linked to job creation is industrialisation. The Cabinet noted the growing need for the development of industrial estates to cater for the large number of foreign and domestic potential investors that want to set shop in the country. A lot of our industrial land remains undeveloped, hampering investor growth,” said Dlamini.
Sabelo Nkambule an economist by profession when offering his expertise on the PM’s summary said when discussing jobs in the government, the type of work that comes to mind is most likely influenced by your particular background.
In a country like Eswatini in which large segments of the economy are nationalised, he said it is possible to become a civil servant in nearly any field, while in other places; one’s options might be more limited.
“Traditionally, working for the government means more job security than working in the private sector. While this may no longer be true across the board,” he said.
He mentioned that his cabinet agreed to the need to intensify investment in factory shells as well as the development and extension of new and existing industrial land.
He said the distribution of factory shells should be decentralised across the country.
Among other things, the PM highlighted that youth empowerment remained one of his biggest mandates as government, which is why they were grateful for projects such as the Eswatini National Youth Empowerment program done in collaboration with UNDP which was launched by His Majesty King Mswati III that seek to empower thousands of young people through artisan skills training, entrepreneurship and mentorship, digital skill training, among others. “We are also looking forward to other new youth empowerment projects that are in the pipeline, which we will also be implementing with support from all stakeholders,” he said.
