Prime Minister Sam Matekane must surely have seen the desperation etched on the faces of thousands of youths who converged at the Makoanyane Primary School grounds earlier this week hoping to be recruited into the army.
Sadly, the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) was only looking at recruiting a measly 500 people into its ranks.
That meant the majority of these youths had to return home not only disillusioned but angry.
The huge numbers that turned up for the recruitment exercise was yet again a frightening reminder of the desperation among Lesotho’s youths who have battled to secure meaningful jobs over the past two decades.
The army recruitment came at the same time when a youth organisation, the Coalition of Youth Organisations in Lesotho, has petitioned the government to declare youth unemployment a national emergency.
38.9 percent of Lesotho’s youths are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Statistics.
The Prime Minister is certainly aware of these frightening statistics.
Matekane’s messaging in the run-up to the general elections almost three years ago was certainly meant to pivot those stats in his favour, which he successfully did.
His message was that those who had come before him and wielded stately power had failed and that he alone was Lesotho’s best foot forward in seeking to tame the unemployment crisis.
Yet three years after his election into office, the evidence that Lesotho’s youths are struggling is glaring.
The thousands that thronged the Makoanyane Primary School grounds this week was a thundering reminder of the enormity of the problem. The hopelessness and anguish were etched on the faces of these youths.
Many youths have given up searching for jobs.
They have now resorted to illicit drugs to numb their pain. Others have turned to petty and serious crime and other social vices such as prostitution to keep body and soul alive. They have lost all hope that they will ever be gainfully employed in their lives.
This is a national tragedy.
When an entire generation is lost to hopelessness, we have a serious problem on our hands as a nation. That anger could boil over one day.
It is therefore critical that Matekane, as Prime Minister, takes urgent measures to contain and manage the anger and desperation.
Yet it would be naïve for the government to think that it alone can solve this problem by seeking to “absorb” these youths into the civil service. Such an approach would be narrow and unhelpful.
We know that the civil service is already bloated and in fact needs to be trimmed.
The poverty alleviation projects the government is already carrying out are a mere band aids that will not address the fundamental issues at the core of youth unemployment.
As we have argued in our previous editorials, what Lesotho needs is a government that creates an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.
A strong and vibrant private sector will unlock jobs for the youths.
It will support youth entrepreneurship.
Lesotho must get its young people into agriculture in its various facets.
We must get the youths into tourism.
The government must provide cheap loans to allow those with ideas to explore.
Of course, party hawks in the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) might be quick to defend Matekane by citing the massive infrastructural projects he is already undertaking.
That is well and good.
However, we wish to reiterate our position: that Matekane will ultimately be judged by the impact he will have in alleviating poverty.
That will only be possible if he creates jobs and more jobs for Basotho.
So far, he has barely scratched the surface.
