Lighting up the future for students in Kwadukuza

The high rate of youth unemployment in KwaDukuza and the desperation of tertiary students unable to find a job, sparked a new venture at the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

With the intention of encouraging apprenticeship training through small and medium size businesses, the Chamber will be sharing with their members the profiles of talented, recently qualified students who are looking for internships.

Chamber CEO, Cobus Oelofse said he knew that many local businesses had the capacity to bring a student into the fold and genuinely wanted to help, however the enormity of the task of sifting through CV’s and vetting the candidates prevented them from taking the first step.

“Chambers should be willing to do the leg work – we are championing those young people who have put their faith in technical education and who we believe would be an asset to local business,” he said.

The first students to be promoted by the chamber in this way are three electrical engineering students from Umfolozi College.

A 22-year-old student, Precious Khwela studied electrical engineering at the Umfolozi TVET College and obtained her NQF level 4 this year.

“I am an enthusiastic, hard worker who is always eager to learn new things. Growing up in a rural area without electricity I did not know how electricity operated, so I chose to study electrical engineering. This will allow me to give back to my community and also I love it because it is a continuous career and we are living in a world of technology which makes it more interesting every day,” said Khwela.

The second student, Siphesihle Dlamini is 22-years-old and hopes to one day start his own company

“I completed my studies last year. I chose electrical engineering because I find it fascinating,” said Dlamini.

The third student, Thandeka Dlamini from Mandeni has been searching for work for eight months.

“I passed my modules with good results and I am currently looking for placement in this field so that I can fulfill my personal goals in life,” said Dlamini.

Oelofse said there needs to be a growth in the labour market to accommodate for the high demand of employment.

“We need a master plan. We simply cannot have talent available and not enough jobs,” he said.

In the Ilembe district, the unemployment rate is at 36 percent while the youth unemployment is at 33 percent.

Oelofse said to combat unemployment, artisan and technical jobs need to be promoted among students.

“Schools need to work with businesses to provide more career advice on technical jobs. One approach to unemployment is to identify what kind of skills businesses are looking for. Often school leavers would be much better served financially and in the labour market, if their further education is directed towards artisan and technical training programmes or if they are encouraged to pursue vocational training instead.”

Businesses often do not not get involved with training programmes due to the high amount of administration as well as the relevance of certain studies toward their sector of business.

The Chamber is currently working with the national education department to identify a model to overcome some of these burdens and encourage business involvement in all sectors.

The three Umfolozi College students have not yet received offers for apprenticeship training. For more information contact the Ilembe Chamber business support centre at reception@ilembechamber.co.za.

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