South Africa has a shortage of skills which can positively contribute towards the fight in curbing the high rate of unemployment in the country and contribute to economic growth. The country is currently sitting at an alarming 34,4% unemployment rate. As mandated by the skills development act of 1998, Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA), joined forces with Merafong City Local Municipality and Pioneers Skills Development Institute to contribute towards this fight. This initiative happened in a form of a 12 months long learnership in Further Education and Training Certificate: Plumbing NQF Level 4, which is in the category of scarce and critical skills in the country.
This training was funded by the LGSETA and Merafong City Local Municipality was the beneficiary whereas Pioneers Skill Development Institute played the role of training service provider. The participants for this learnership were sourced from the local communities, these learners comprised of both unemployed youths, termed 18.2 and municipal employees, termed 18.1. These learners were taken through the in-class learning and workplace learning, which the latter has seen them practicing what they have learned in class and gaining the needed experience for them to be certified competent for this qualification.
The learnership has since been completed and certificates were handed over in a graduation ceremony which was held on the 7th of September 2021 in Merafong City Local Municipality. The ceremony was organized to celebrate and reward the achievement by the learners as well as a way of trying to showcase some of the good work done by the municipality together with its strategic partners. The event was organized by the municipality and supported by Pioneers Skills Development Institute. Speaking on behalf of the municipality, the skills development facilitator, Ms. Frida Molefe, shared the journey of the learnership and pointed out that it was not an easy one but through hard work and determination from all parties the training was completed with 90% competency rate. She further urged the learners not to stop learning and must look out for other opportunities, like apprenticeships, to further their studies as they have already been given the foundation. She further portrayed a message to all the young female graduates, saying she’s happy that women are now joining this male dominated career, they must now start opening their own companies, become artisans, thrive in the quest for the betterment of their lives and their communities.
The initiative came and presented new opportunities for these participants, as some of them were employed in the municipality without any formal qualification relating to plumbing. Marvin Khoza was one of the employed participants, he highlighted how this initiative has uplifted him as he was one of the people working in the municipality who did not have a plumbing or water related qualifications. During his address, representing the employed learners on the graduation ceremony, he alluded how this is going to enhance his life as an individual and the lives of the community serviced by the municipality as he is now a qualified plumber and ready to offer better professional services. “It is initiatives of this nature which always makes us start from humble beginnings and rise and shine at a later stage,’’ he said. He concluded his address by expressing his appreciativeness to the training provider and the municipality for the opportunity.
For others like Tsholofelo Kubu an unemployed young lady, this was a life changing opportunity. Speaking on behalf of the unemployed learners during the graduation ceremony, she indicated that initially she joined this learnership because there was a stipend involved, but she developed passion afterwards. “I was more interested on the stipend when I first enrolled on the learnership but later developed some passion and fell in love with everything we were taught in class and during the workplace learning,” she said.
After the training she started being involved in different activities related to her newly acquired qualification. She highlighted how she has now fallen in love with this male dominant field of work and ready to serve her community with pride, currently she is working as a volunteer for a social housing project in her community with the aim of gaining more experience and exposure in this field. She shared some of her future plans which includes opening her own company and employ more women which she will impart some of her skills to.
Amidst the personages in the ceremony, was the managing director of Pioneers Skills Development Institute, Ms. Gift Shai, who was also afforded a slot to give a motivational talk to the graduates. She started her address by giving a brief background of the organization and its core values. Her speech was full of words of encouragement to the learners, pleas for them to do more, to be determined in everything they do and not to allow anything to stand on their way of success. She also touched on the aching reality of the high rate of youth unemployment in the country and how initiatives of this nature can address this daunting challenge. Her address was concluded by saying any learner who is in need of support in their new endeavors, they are more than welcome to approach Pioneers Skills Development Institute for any form of guidance, “we have an incubation programme which aims to support all our former students who desires to realize their future goals” said Ms. Shai in conclusion.