The Graduate Unemployment Crisis Threatens Peace

EVERY YEAR THOUSANDS of young people come out of the higher education system with high expectations.

They want to land jobs with reasonable salaries that match the years of money invested in their qualifications.

Those from poor and previously disadvantaged backgrounds hope to end the cycle of generational poverty that defines many families across Namibia – in particular black families.

However, a bleak reality awaits these graduates.

There are simply no jobs.

Not only is there an oversupply of graduates from institutions of higher learning, but the Namibian economy has also seemingly stopped producing jobs at a rate fast enough to accommodate the thousands of graduates exiting the higher education system every year.

This year’s graduates will join the 67 000 unemployed graduates reported by the by the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation in 2018.

Without a doubt, that number has exponentially increased since 2018, and must be hovering above more than 70 000.

Sadly, there is no guarantee that a university degree will secure young graduates employment, subsequently providing them the chance at uplifting not only their lives, but the lives of their families and communities as well.

We are faced with a crisis with far-reaching consequences for the social fabric and order of our society.

This status quo is largely problematic, because it threatens the peace and stability we have come to enjoy in Namibia for the past 31 years.

Of course, the founder of peace studies, John Galtung, warns us that peace and stability must not always be defined in terms of physical conflict.

For the purposes of this letter,I shall define peace and stability as the absence of physical confrontation.

It is important to note that frustrated, unemployed young people have been the orchestrators of revolutions and regime changes across Africa and the world in contemporary times – the recent Arab Spring being one classic example.

It is even more dangerous when it is the young, educated masses who are the subject of such frustration, which is currently the case. Historically, the young, educated elite have been the pacemakers and paradigm shifters in terms of removing governments across the world.

Hence, this crisis is the fuel on the fire needed to ignite a revolt of young people against the political, economic and social establishments within Namibia, which in turn can spiral into a broader conflict that threatens the long-term stability of the Namibian state.

An unemployed, frustrated and hungry youth is an angry youth.

It is therefore fundamental that the government and the private sector come together to find a long-lasting solution to this problem.

The future of Namibia is rested upon its young people.

The masses of unemployed young people will not be voting for a government that is anti-youth.

We remain grounded.

Tjekupe Katjimune, PDM Youth League

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