The Future is Looking Bleak for the Unskilled South African – You Have to Get Some Sort of Qualification to Get Ahead
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| It is your turn to make an effort |
Walking through the streets of Woodstock Cape Town, at 7 o’clock
in the morning the streets are abuzz with people going to work and kids going
to school. I notice that there are groups of men scattered all along Salt River
Road ready to begin the work day, as I head towards Salt River Station I notice
even more men and women this time just outside the station. One thing stands
out for me, I am supposedly in South Africa but so far along my walk most
people that I have come across are not South African (by origin anyways), I
start thinking: “Where are all the South Africans?”
The reality in Cape Town and I assume in the rest of South Africa
is that poor black people cannot afford to live in town close to the work
environment thanks to the scattered Apartheid design of residential areas for
the different races. This means that South Africans from the “locations” have
to travel by buses, taxis, and trains (in Joburg and Cape Town). This adds
extra costs (travel costs which are not often considered by people who hire
unskilled labour), our brothers and sisters from other African countries who
reside here in SA often stay as close as possible to the CBD or other places of
employment which gives them an advantage. They (our African counterparts) have
come a long way and are often desperate to find a means to survive therefore
they are hardworking and are willing to work for less which means your average
businessman in the city who is trying to keep his costs down is more likely to
hire them over you the poor South African who is perceived as not as hardworking
and who demands higher pay as you have to take a lot of things into
consideration.
The Changing South African Employment Landscape
Prior to the 2010 world cup in my small town back in KZN
there used to be a mixture between South African barbers from the hood and
African Barbers, but after 2010 that started to change drastically, it’s rare
to find South African guys cutting hair in town anymore (maybe in the hood but
in town they are outnumbered 5 is to 1 [this may be an exaggeration but you get
my point]. Since my arrival here in Cape Town I have never seen a Xhosa guy or
a Coloured guy cutting hair in CBD or the areas populated by students, all the
salons on the main road are foreign owned/run. I can only guess that the reason
for this is that South African’s don’t have start-up capital to rent in the CBD
and the Southern Suburbs, you find that the Africans who run salons in these
areas also stay in the same building to minimize cost, it may be that we South Africans
don’t want to move away from the hood (even though moving from the hood and
staying in our rented salons would mean we can compete with the African run
businesses). The other thing that comes to mind is that at least in the salon
business, South African’s may be charging more for their services and their
competitors are willing to offer services for cheaper (people with connections
do better).
Moving away from the salon or barbershop example now I will
use another example. I have noticed that franchises, bars and clubs here hire a
full African staff, it’s not uncommon to go to a restaurant and you find that
all the staff are Zimbabwean for example. Again I assume that it’s because people
from other African countries are willing to work longer for less.
Not all companies are the same though, major national stores
still prioritize hiring South Africans first, for example banks and clothing’s
stores like Markham, Foschini etc.
So What Does That Mean For The Average South African & The Recent Matriculant
It means welcome to the big bad world, where it will be
harder for you to find a decent well-paying job without any qualifications. Not
only are you competing with other unskilled South Africans, but you are
competing with people from other African countries who are willing to work harder
for less. The future is not looking very bright for the lazy, this is the time
of the hustler, the go getter. Are you a go getter? If not, you better change
now or you will remain poor your entire life. If you were not serious in high
school it’s time to wake up now and do something to gains skills. There are
many ways to gain skills, the government has a lot of funding for people who
want to learn whether its’ through Nsfas for those who make it to tertiary
institutions, municipal bursaries or learnerships in government owned companies
like Eskom, Transnet and other big private companies like Coca Cola and Toyota
(I can think of many more examples of companies, the point is to do research!).
It is up to you to go to these companies and enquire about the opportunities
available to you. It’s time to change the mentality of thinking just because
you are South African the government should give you jobs, the government’s responsibility
is to provide an environment conducive to employment and that may not always
mean them providing employment directly.
This was just an observation and opinion piece, I hope that
some of the thoughts I have shared resonate with you and are able to give you
that extra nudge to go enquire and start taking your future into your own
hands.
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