I don't know about the original poster, but I got a job in January. And in the 8 months since I was hired Mac Air hired two, Kavango hired one, and Sefo hired four pilots. Still bad odds considering at least 5 times that many people looking for jobs have come through town without any luck. I doubt more than a small hand full of jobs will come up this winter but now one really knows. IF you want to fly here and you can afford to take a huge risk than give it a shot. Just be selective about who you work for and what you sign, don't just take any job offered to you.
When I was last in Maun, the economy was great and the jobs were plentiful and my flight time was very low. Needless to say I got offered a position.
You said a select few were hired through the year despite the downturn, while 5x more rolled through. Is it that the select few had higher times, more competitive resumes?
Things have changed and my flight times have far exceeded mins (still extremely low for a US pilot)....Does this mean I'm more competitive? Worth traveling down?