However,Mzansiis a resilient nation, as many graduates have proved by starting their own businesses.
While she can easily forward the CVs electronically through email, she prefers physically delivering them in person.
That is because her email outbox is flooded with applications which have received no responses.
Read also
So she is trying a different approach.
Her hopes of landing her dream job were finally taking off.
But those hopes have dwindled and gone with the wind.
Read also
That graduation excitement has turned into a job-searching horror show.
She finds herself as a statistic in a country that is heading towards an astronomically high unemployment rate.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on many companies.
A man reads a newspaper at a flea market in Soweto. Image: Marc Hoberman/ Hoberman Collection/ Universal Images GroupSource: Getty Images
It has affected the way companies operate and employ.
It will adversely affect the whole employment belt for a long time to come.
The youth segment accounts for 60% of total unemployment numbers in Africa,according to the World Bank.
Read also
These figures paint a blurry picture and the future appears scary for the next generation of university graduate’s.
More than165 000 people in the liquor industryare now rendered jobless because of the pandemic.
The lockdown did not just affect the liquor industry.
Women cook behind one of the stalls of informal traders at the Beitbridge border post, near Musina, South Africa. Image: Guillem Sartorio/ AFPSource: Getty Images
It halted every sector as the lack of activity dented the financial flow charts.
A massive job blood bath looms if business rescue does not happen soon.
University graduate’s feeling the pinch of exploitation
Tertiary level education does not come cheap.
Read also
Theharsh reality of the job marketdoes not favour them.
A degree and the willingness to work is just not enough.
Interns are replacing employees while business trim running costs
Moyo’s sentiments resonate with most interns.
General view during the Street Traders March in October 2020 in Durban. Image: Darren Stewart/ Gallo ImagesSource: Getty Images
Some employers heavily rely on interns as they try trimming down their salary wage bill.
Internship salaries are more affordable compared to those of full-time staff.
Interns are also liable to pay tax if they earn above R6 500.
Read also
This is because their salary is considered a source of income.
Like 29-year-old Ayabulela Mabunda who struggled to find a job when he completed his tertiary education.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.
A tailor works beside the road during lockdown level 3 in 2020 in Soweto. Image: Papi Morake/ Gallo ImagesSource: Getty Images
He eventually thought about starting a business but there was little to no capital for him to start anything.
Having exhausted all his thoughts, the concept of a sneaker cleaning business soon surfaced.
Mabunda’s sneaker cleaning business is now thriving.
Members of a waste pickers and informal traders community walk back to their residence with food parcels received in 2020. Image: Marco Longari / AFPSource: Getty Images
He has since bought a car that he uses to collect and deliver the sneakers to his clients.
Meanwhile another unemployed graduate, Sisanda Nondlwane used her business acumen to start a laundry business.
She does not have a washing machine and she uses her hands to wash the clothes.
Hand washing is also what some of her customers want.
Nondlwane believes that graduates have the pedigree to succeed in business if they commit to the cause.
She stressed that young entrepreneurs needed to focus on what they could do with little resources.
Lonalinamandla Bawuti is a Johannesburg-based strategic advertising graduate.
She has since become an internet sensation and some good Samaritans have also chipped in to assist her.
Her sister is a qualified paramedic and also holds an N3 in electrical engineering.
This conclusively means that the traditional working structure is going to disband.
The innovation being brought forth by the graduates-turned-entrepreneurs therefore becomes of paramount importance.
Most universities and higher learning institutions in South Africa now have entrepreneurship studies in their modules.
A sign that the focus is now on graduate’s creating their own jobs.
The reliance on being employed probed that many youths are unable to adapt to the dire consequences.
Entrepreneurship among university graduates is now the option that many are turning to worldwide.
The tides are bare for all to see.
From a job-seeker perspective, entrepreneurship should be seen as a viable career option and not a last resort.
That is the message universities are striving to promote nowadays.
Enjoyed reading our story?
Download BRIEFLY’s news app onGoogle Playnow and stay up-to-date with major South African news!
E-mail: rianette.cluley@briefly.co.za
