Mugabe Caps 1,240 Dejected Graduands

CHINHOYI —  President Robert Mugabe today capped 1,245 graduands at Chinhoyi University of Technology, who joined the flooded job market in a country where it is difficult to find formal employment.

Most of the graduands are pessimistic about getting decent jobs in the near future.

Most graduands say the economic situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that they don’t expect to get jobs anytime soon.

One of them, Tsitsi Nyatsanza, who graduated in Business Management and Entrepreneurship, says despite the gloomy situation, he is looking forward to getting a decent job after four years of hard work.

Nyatsanza says she will try to venture into a small business if she can’t be formally employed.

Her colleague, Harrison Ziyambi, who graduated in International Marketing after struggling to pay university fees, echoes the same sentiments, adding that he will leave the country if he fails to get a job.

Ziyambi believes that there are greener pastures in the Southern African Development Community region and beyond.

But Charity Murairwa, who completed studies in International Purchasing, Logistics and Transport, thinks that there is a bright future out there as long as graduands are prepared to work hard using skills and knowledge acquired from the university.

Charity agrees that chances are very slim that she will get employed.

Ziyambi’s father, Edmore, says it was difficult to raise money for paying his son’s university fees due to the current economic hardships in Zimbabwe.

He hopes that his son will get a decent job in the near future so that he will look after the family as they sacrificed everything to cater for his education.

Like Edmore Ziyambi, Gogo Murairwa is worried about grand-daughter Charity’s future.

The graduation ceremony was not without controversy as speakers turned the event into a political gathering, taking most of their time congratulating the president for winning the July 31st elections.

Vice Chancellor Jambwa Simbi was outstanding in heaping praises on President Mugabe.

This was the 9^th graduation ceremony at the university which has produced thousands of graduands since its inception.

The university offers studies in various fields including Business Management and Entrepreneurship, Retail Management, International Marketing, Strategic Management, Accountancy, Production Engineering and Business Studies.

State colleges nationwide produce thousands of graduands per year who fail to get formal employment.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Zimbabwe has an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent. But independent groups believe that it is between 71 and 89 percent.