23 Feb 2025

Residents of Jwaneng have decried high rate of unemployment, which they said resulted in social ills such as drug abuse and prostitution.
They expressed their concern during a kgotla meeting addressed by the Vice President, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe on Saturday.
The chairperson of the Umbrella Ward Development Committee (UWDC), Mr Solomon Monakwane said among the many challenges facing young people in the township was high unemployment.
He said in order to address this challenge, the Jwaneng Technical College (JTC) should offer mining-related courses to provide Jwaneng Mine with the required skills.
He also noted that Jwaneng Mine’s business partners should have a deliberate plan to absorb graduates from JTC.
Additionally, Mr Monakwane called on the government to recognise the role played by village development committees, and come up with plans to motivate them beyond the voluntary work they do.
“We appeal to the government to enhance the integrity of VDCs because they mostly work on voluntary basis to develop communities. VDC members should be considered as priority for vacancies in government and council,” he said.
Another young person, Mr Tension Gotsilewame said unemployment contributed towards rising numbers of Gender Based Violence (GBV). He underscored the need to stimulate economic activity in the mining town to boost the informal sector.
“Since the Toyota 1000km Desert Race has been discontinued, we need an annual mining festival which will not only showcase the best mining services but will go a long way in stimulating economic activity for small businesses,” he said.
For Ms Taolo Rantalajwe, a multi-sectoral approach towards transforming Jwaneng into a sporting hub would not only reduce the unemployment rate, but would also keep young people busy away from the streets and social ills.
She appealed to stakeholders to collaborate in an effort to utilising the various sporting facilities in Jwaneng to improve the lives of young people and promote economic diversification away from diamond mining.
 “Jwaneng has the potential to be transformed into a sporting hub because most facilities are available here. There is a lot of young people who did not perform well in their academics and there is need to keep them engaged in sports as a way of economic diversification and also to curb the challenges faced by idle youth in our township,” she noted.
Mr Matlhogonolo Machona said their efforts as artists to generate income were mostly unsuccessful owing to unavailability of entertainment venues and general lack of support from government departments.
“Artistes in this town struggle to make ends meet and some resort to drugs. The entertainment industry is not adequately supported and we are mostly side-lined when we request for venues to host events,” he said.
For his part, Jwaneng Mine general manager, Mr Goitseone Gadifele said transforming Jwaneng into a sporting hub was part of their plan towards building a sustainable economy beyond diamond mining.
He said currently, they had availed their facilities to various national team codes for training purposes.
He also said their events venues were undergoing renovation to eventually be availed to the community for economic activities.
 Additionally, Mr Gadifele noted that while they acknowledged that Jwaneng Mine’s business partners had to revisit their recruitment processes and use the kgotla during the hiring process, he was concerned about employees who lost their jobs due to going to work drunk.
He said such behaviour defeated efforts of curbing unemployment in Botswana.
Consequently, he urged residents to encourage young people to be committed to their work ethics to avoid such incidences. ENDS