“There is a demand for artisans in SA, but there is no demand for lawyers”- Says Deputy Minister of Higher Education

Speaking  to more than 1 200 pupils from different schools at the Capricorn Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (Tvet) college in Seshego, as part of “Decade of the Artisan” campaign yesterday, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mduduzi Manana urged young people should stop pursuing university degrees that would result in them joining the list of unemployed graduates.

Manana pointed said the number of unemployed graduates in South Africa was at risk of increasing due to wrong career choices. “We have 600 000 unemployed graduates in this country and if the number increase, it will cause chaos. When hunger strikes, they will come to your home and steal. When crime rises, we are in trouble.

“If we don’t have [an artisan qualification], the rate of unemployment will be higher. Some learners are pursuing a university degree which is not marketable and they end up joining the unemployed because of lack of career counselling,” said Manana.

“With the artisan programme, jobs are guaranteed. Government is not the employer, but the private sector is. The reason we have so many unemployed graduates is because of minimal career counselling.”

The deputy minister added that the shortage of artisans in the country was an obstacle to economic growth.

“We have 134 artisan trades [and] we have recruited more than 1 000 artisans from Thailand because we don’t have enough in our country. There is a demand for artisans in SA, but there is no demand for lawyers.”