Yesterday I had to fight back tears while interviewing candidates for an Apprentice position.

As some of you would know, Apprenticeship training is a 5 year training program where one is trained to become an Artisan. The minimum requirement to quality for this training program is simply a Form 5 certificate.

The program is theory and practical training for 5 years at the production plant and the remuneration is that of a trainee...not much

Out of 7 candidates 4 of them were UNESWA degree holders, 3 BSc majors & one Accounting.We were shocked as to why after spending 4 years getting degree, these guys were willing to put that aside, start afresh and relearn a trade from the basics as if they were were HS leavers.

These people are already overqualified for the apprentice program, overqualified for artisan position you graduate to after the 5 years and overqualified for the Forman position too! (Artisans are promoted to be a Forman who leads other artisans). This was heartbreaking.

We were dead silent as candidate after candidate explained their reasoning and decision to want to go through this route.There are simply no employment opportunities available in the country anymore.For most of them this was their first interview since getting degrees 3,4 yrs ago

There is nothing to celebrate about the leadership of this country. They have let Emaswati down serverly and they simply do not care. Do not make the mistake of thinking they care.