Skills training gives new hope to the unemployed

An amount of about R23 million from the National Skills Fund was allocated to the Gautrain Project for training This training initiative is over and above the training undertaken by the Bombela Consortium as part of their commitments under the Concession Agreement.

By providing critical and scares skills training in construction and construction vehicle operation, Gautrain has created a better future for more than one thousand employed and unemployed people this year.

This skills development and capacity building initiative demonstrates Gautrain’s commitment to sustainable socio economic development in Gauteng.

Previously disadvantaged candidates are recruited from areas such as Tembisa, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Mogale and Soweto. For short courses which are presented at the Gautrain/Bombela training campus in Chloorkop near Kempton Park, 250 candidates have undergone aptitude tests in order to select the most suitable candidates for the training provided.

Learning ability battery tests are used to assess candidates’ capabilities in aspects such as reading, cognitive ability, maths, co-ordination and learning capacity. The 40 candidates with the best scores are then trained to operate construction vehicles such as tractorised backloaders, articulated dump trucks, front-end loaders, excavators and 25t mobile cranes.

Since January this year, two courses have been presented at the Gautrain training campus. Another eight courses are planned for the remainder of the year. Successful graduates receive certificates from the Skills Education Training Authorities and their fees are sponsored by the National Skills Development Fund.

Candidates spend only two days in a classroom. Thereafter they go to construction sites equipped with all the necessary vehicles. Here they learn how to drive the construction vehicles by practicing the various functions required. Candidates also learn aspects such as vehicle maintenance, safety and cleaning.

Once training is completed, graduates are employed by Gautrain or any of the other construction projects currently in progress.

Over and above the training initiative that is financed through the National Skills Fund, Gautrain has created or sustained more than 4 700 local direct jobs and an estimated total of more than 25 400 direct, indirect and induced jobs in the 2007/08 financial year.