Digitisation of Home Affairs records training underway in Benoni
The three-year, R2.4 billion project was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year
The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi addressed more than 1 000 unemployed youth with skills in IT and records- and document management who have been recruited for the digitisation of Home Affairs records at The Lakes Conference Centre on February 1.
The recruitment comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced during the State of the Nation Address in February last year that the Department of Home Affairs will recruit 10 000 unemployed young graduates for the digitisation of its civic paper records, enhancing their skills and contributing to the modernisation of citizens’ services through the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES).
The first group has started undergoing Home Affairs-specific training in Benoni before they return to work in their home provinces.
According to Motsoaledi, the department has more than 350 million civic paper records relating to birth, marriages, deaths and amendments.
“The category of records dates back to 1895, which necessitates care and reliable systems that will bear tolerance for digitisation purposes. These records are in all provinces, with the bulk in Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape.
“South Africans complain about the delays they experience when they apply for unabridged birth certificates, unabridged marriage certificates or amendments and rectification of their biographic details. This is because Home Affairs officials have to manually search for original documents among these 350 million manual records.”
Motsoaledi said the three-year, R2.4b project will help to eradicate paper records.
He highlighted that the digitisation of Home Affairs records will run over three years, effective from November 2022 until October 2025.
Successful youth will be paid a stipend ranging from R5 000 for entry-level positions to R9 500 for a technical support level and R14 250 for managerial positions.
“The department has partnered with relevant stakeholders to facilitate the training of these recruits. The training will be relevant to the job for which they are contracted.
Continuous learning and development interventions will be provided to enhance their employability and/or allow them to leverage entrepreneurial opportunities beyond the project,” he said.
Motsoaledi further shared that 60% of the intake is women while only 40% are men.
The programme is comprised of three phases:
Phase 1 – Recruitment of the first intake of 2 000 unemployed youth graduates.
Phase 2 – Recruitment of a further 4 000 unemployed youth graduates.
Phase 3 – Final recruitment of 4 000 more unemployed youth graduates.
Applications for the second intake are still open.
How to apply
• Go to sayouth.mobi
• Register. The process will take four minutes.
• If you have already registered on SA Youth or Harambee you log in, using the same login details.
• If you have forgotten your password click ‘forgot password’ to receive an SMS. If you have changed your number call 0800 727272.
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