Over Employment

 Botswana and South Africa suffer from a serious problem.  Too many people and not enough jobs.

This is particularly true for young people.

As a small country, roughly the population of Toronto, it is almost impossible to have an industrial base or manufacturing.  Thus there is scramble to create jobs.

High end tourism is one source of jobs and income for the country as is the various diamond mines.

Botswana

Botswana was one of the first areas where bulk sampling and indicator mineral mapping were used to characterize and identify diamond pipes across a large and difficult geographic area. Exploration began in the 1950s and diamond mining began in 1971. By the mid-1980s Botswana had some of the highest yielding mines in the world, and the tiny country was among the world's leading diamond producers.

For over a decade, Botswana has been the second-leading producer of diamonds on the basis of carat weight and the leading producer on the basis of value. It holds this position because its average diamond size is larger than what is produced by Russia and of a general higher quality.

Botswana's Jwaneng mine is often referred to as "the richest diamond mine in the world." The mine has been producing about 10 million carats of high-quality diamonds per year. The mine is owned by a company named Debswana, a joint venture company between De Beers and the government of Botswana - hence the name "Debswana."

The diamond industry is the most important contributor to economic activity in Botswana. Diamonds account for about 60% of Botswana's exports and about 25% of its gross domestic product. De Beers is in charge of selling all of Debswana's rough and has built the largest diamond sorting and selling facility in the world in Gaborone, the capital and largest city of Botswana. There, stones mined by De Beers in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa are sorted and offered to diamond buyers and manufacturers from around the world in De Beers' famous "sightholder sales."

Unfortunately diamonds produce income for the government but relatively few jobs.

Thus, the other day when I went to get my hair cut for 200 pula ($20) there were 3 staff for every chair.

The hair cutter, the sweeper and the hair washer.

As the hair cutter went about his business, every few minutes, a girl came with a small brush to sweep hair off the cloth around my shoulders and then the hair off the floor.  When my hair cut was finished the floor was already clean!

Then around the corner at another station with a big sink you leaned your head back into was another employee.

For the inclusive cost I could have also had a shave but I passed on that.

At petrol stations there are about 2 employees per pump.  All in unforms like it probably was like in the 60's back in Canada.

This group, fills the petrol, washes the windows and will check the oil if requested.  When finished they bring the debit machine to the car to pay for the petrol.  No charge for their services but they usually get 20 pula to share. ($2).  All part of wealth distribution!

When we went to get our gas cylinder exchanged at the hardware store this morning, there were 3 young lads sitting in the shade in front of the store.  One came and got the empty cylinder from the boot and took it to the compound behind the store and brought out a fully charged cylinder and loaded it back into the trunk.

I anticipate that this is their current livelihood and it is as pretty informal as it gets.  (Binnie gave the young lad 20 pula.)

This scenario is seen everywhere in Botswana. Too many people looking for work and not enough formal jobs.  Thus "jobs" are created.