President Mnangagwa champions vocational training for youth empowerment and economic growth

Limukani Ncube, Feature

Growing up in Mpopoma, Bulawayo, we had a lot of friends from Amapostori families. However, we hardly played with them after school as they went about the family business moving around western areas selling homemade metal dishes, plates, buckets, pillows, grass brooms, and even underwear for children.

When we reached Form One, Amos, who was one of the top performers in our class, had already learnt the craft of making metal buckets and dishes. In our metal work class practicals, he was the go-to person as he could handle the scissors to cut through metal and other equipment like a professional, while the rest of us struggled with a nail and hammer.

Nonetheless, Amos was to drop out of school after we wrote the Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (Form Two), national examinations which were later discontinued. Never mind, he had passed all the subjects. He then continued with his family trade, and in no time he was driving a pick-up truck and moving between Zimbabwe and Botswana to sell his homemade products.

From Botswana, he came back with wristwatches, wall watches, radios, and television sets for reselling. We watched his business enterprise grow. When we got to Form Six, he was already a family man, married, not to one woman, but two. But that is beside the point. We all envied him. When we occasionally bumped into him going to buy bread for lunch time at Entumbane Shopping Complex, which is a walkable distance from Mpopoma High School, he would offer to pay for our freshly baked loaf of bread and freezits, and then go and drop us at the school gate using his truck. 

 

“One of our friends, Samuel, now based in South Africa, an ever-witty character, would tease Amos saying; “lawe wena postori ipani yakho leyi izasiqeda izihlalo, thenga imota engcono, imigqomo leyo iyathengwa kakhulu (hay postori, your van is a frying pan, it will finish our backsides, buy a better car, you are making a lot of money from selling buckets).” Amos would respond in kind with a smile, and nonetheless drive us to school.

He was at another level and his business empire has grown today as he has ventured into other sectors, making sofas and other home furniture and fittings. He is still our “blesser”, at least to those of us still in touch with him. His business acumen and trade were nurtured while he was still young. He did not follow the academic route, which can be long and tedious before any returns.

Amos is an example of how practical skills can bring about a good life. The call by President Mnangagwa for youths to “use their hands” to uplift their lives and contribute to the country’s economic turnaround relates to the story of Amos. Amos did not go for vocational training. He was trained at home and self-made, but many youths out there can have a bright future from skills attained from vocational training, as not everyone has a background similar to Amos. 

According to research, vocational training was in the past viewed as ideal for the less academic, but demands for self-employment and practical skills development in a modern world have proven that vocational training is for everyone. Furthermore,it not only benefits individuals but employees in any set-up as it increases productivity.

“Vocational training offers students the skills they need for a job more than academic courses do. When students finish their training, they are prepared and ready to excel in their new employment. Some students go to university without a clear vision of what they want to do, there is more chance for students to learn the skills they are passionate about or discover exactly what they are good at and will better excel in (at vocational training). Vocational training programmes normally don’t take more than two years to complete. 

“They also have flexible schedules which accommodate people with other commitments. It’s a quicker way to get the skills that will assist in getting a job. Vocational training is more affordable than university and their small school environment means more personalised student services. Not only does vocational training increase an individual’s employability, but the skills development also gives people career progression and promotion opportunities,” according to youth village.co.zw.

Youth Development, Empowerment, and Vocational Training Minister Hon Tino Machakaire said the venue of the National Youth Day celebrations held last week, Mushagashe Vocational Training Centre in Masvingo, was deliberately chosen to showcase the technical ability of youths that were enrolling at Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) and their value in the achievement of the country’s vision of having an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

“This year, we have changed our approach to the whole thing. We saw it important to have the commemorations at a vocational training centre because we want to be showing the country’s youths that they can enrol here and learn a number of valuable life transforming skills. There are a number of them here including sewing, carpentry, welding, agriculture in all its facets, and many others. We want our youths to be aware that they can do such courses, that way we can fight idleness which leads to drug and substance abuse and other vices that are caused by redundancy,” said Minister Machakaire ahead of the event.

The day was commemorated under the theme: “Positioning Youth Empowerment and Development towards Vision 2030.” Delivering his keynote address at the event, President Mnangagwa challenged young people, both in Zimbabwe and abroad, to shoulder the burden of developing their country, emulating their forebearers who liberated it and drive the developmental agenda.

February 21 is a national holiday set aside for youths to interact with their leaders to ensure the rich national ethos and character that brought about freedom, democracy and independence, is passed to future generations. It is also the birthday of the founding father of Zimbabwe, the late former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

“Today, on one hand, we look back in honour of one of our founding fathers, the late former President and national hero, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, as well as the many brave and fearless young people who sacrificed their youth and schooling to wage the protracted war of liberation. We must never ever forget their supreme sacrifices. On the other hand, we look forward to the future with great confidence, guided by our philosophy, ‘Nyika inovakwa, inotongwa, inonamatirwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa, libuswe, likhulekelwe ngabanikazi balo.”

The Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa is working towards achieving Vision 2030, which seeks to fundamentally transform Zimbabwe to an empowered upper-middle income economy. The President said the nation has “great targets to achieve, aspirations to realise and a national vision to attain”.

“By 2030, our great motherland Zimbabwe must be a prosperous and empowered upper-middle income society. You the youth of this great nation have a role to play in the ongoing journey. You are the descendants of the Great Munhumutapa. You must believe in yourselves. You are not an inferior people,” he said.

The President also toured exhibition stands, for youths who are into various businesses. He also commissioned a business unit at Mushagashe Vocational Training Centre. To underline his determination to empower young people, President Mnangagwa donated 10 tractors to vocational training centres across the country. 

Therefore, the dice has been cast, and vocational training colleges dotted around the country must step up and be the engine for practical skills development to self-reliance and job creation among the youths.