Learning for Life, Work and the Future Initial ... - Unesco-Unevoc

Page 52 Participants’ Papers Learning for Life, Work and the Future
Position Male Female Total
Principal 1 0 1
Deputy Principal 2 0 2
HODs 2 0 2
Senior Lecturer I 0 0 0
Senior Lecturer II 5 0 5
Gaborone Technical College
12. Recommendations
• Establishment of a comprehensive programme in all
VET institutions
• Review of existing policies
• Liaison officers in the institutions to ensure that
there is equal participation in decision making,
choice of courses, etc
• Regular sensitisation workshops for management at
institutional level
• Intensive campaign to disseminate information on
VET
• More open days or career fairs to sensitise young
people towards VET
• Publicity material to be increased and widely
distributed.
10 KOPEKA, Charles and WATERMAN, Nick (Lesotho):
The Challenge of Mineworker Retrenchment for Lesotho –
An Opportunity for Community Empowerment and Regional Co-operation
1. Introduction
This paper outlines an initiative undertaken by the
Ministry of Education (MoE) as part of the Government
of Lesotho’s poverty alleviation strategy. It seeks
to analyse the impact of mineworker retrenchment and
describes the process of planning a programme of
vocational training as a considered response. It is
suggested that a participative approach of stakeholders,
particularly at community level, would contribute to
the rejuvenation and empowerment of communities.
It is also suggested that strategies for addressing retrenched
mineworker unemployment should begin at
the source of employment, prior to the retrenched
mineworkers’ return, to help them and their families
avoid facing protracted economic and social dislocation
at home. The paper concludes that such strategies
provide an opportunity for regional co-operation.
2. The Issue
Lesotho has a long history of migrant labour finding
employment in the mines of South Africa. The proportion
of Basotho has invariably been around 30% of the
total mineworker workforce, reaching a numerical high
in 1989 of 127,000 (Mhlanga 1996). In 1994 remittances
from mineworkers accounted for 98% of all
those sent by Basotho working abroad and 34% of
Lesotho’s GNP (Mhlanga 1996).
Mhlanga (1996) cites important statistics on the impact
of mineworker retrenchment. Due to the contraction in
gold mining activity and the localisation of labour in
South Africa, 300,000 mineworkers were retrenched
between 1989 and 1999. 75,000 of these were Basotho.
During the last decade there has been a 60% drop in
Basotho mineworkers in South Africa. The scale of
retrenchment has been most severe and traumatic in
recent years, with a decline in 1998 of over 20% and a
further 14% decline in1999.
Each mineworker supports, on average, between seven
and ten others (Monyau, 2000). Consequently, the
multiplier effect on individuals and communities of
retrenched mineworker unemployment has enormous
impact. 95% of retrenched mineworkers express a
desire to settle in the villages of their origin. However,
few if any have any means of sustaining a livelihood
for themselves or their families in indigenous conditions
of subsistence agriculture and high unemployment.
Additionally, protracted unemployment of the
former primary breadwinner can result in the break-up
of families (Monyau, 2000), thus undermining community
cohesion and individual and collective sustainability.
It has been stated that “the proportion of households
defined as poor has increased significantly in Lesotho
since 1990 and now includes 68% of the population.
Two-thirds of the poor live in destitution with barely
enough cash income to satisfy basic food needs.”
(Gay and Hall, 2000, p. viii). National unemployment
stands at between 35%and 40% (UNDP 1998), and
together with poverty, tends to be most acute in rural
and remote areas (Gay and Hall 2000).
Over a third of retrenched mineworkers express selfemployment
as providing opportunities for paid work
(Mhlanga, 1996). Yet their capacity to engage in selfemployment
is limited: over half of them have either
no formal education or none beyond Grade 4
(Mhlanga, 1994). They tend to lack entrepreneurial
skills and few have any previous experience of micro
or small business activity (Mhlanga, 1994).
The return of a comparatively high number of unemployed
people with comparatively low skills levels
exacerbates the existing difficulty of absorbing poten-