A skills development collaboration between the merSETA and the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (SBIDZ) has seen the funding and placement of 384 learners in various training programmes within the Saldanha Bay municipality.
The partnership started with the merSETA providing funding of Phase 1 skills programmes, which focused on the development of basic technical skills and attributes as well as the creation of an adequate and sustainable pool of candidates who met entry requirements for various training programmes.
“The merSETA has been our strategic partner in the skills development and training area since 2015. The success of Phase 1 resulted in the implementation of Phase 2 skills development and training initiatives in the fields of electrical, rigging, pipefitting, mechanical fitting, boiler-making and welding,” says Patrick Lakabane, Executive Development Programmes at SBIDZ.
He continues; “The strategy for Phase 2 was designed to build particular competencies to enable candidates to progress on to increasingly demand-driven, more advanced and ‘fit-for-purpose’ training programmes in the Oil & Gas Services and Marine Fabrication & Repair to meet investor workforce demands.”
The SBIDZ is a strategic government initiative linked to the broader framework of expanding the industrial base, exports, trade and investment.
“The cornerstone of our skills development and training strategy is based on the formation of sustainable partnerships with likeminded institutions in the areas of funding and skills development as well as training implementation that supports industrialisation, exports, trade and investment,” explains Lakabane.
‘Seeing the value and success of our training programmes, the merSETA stepped up once again and committed R7.9 million on a co-funding basis towards skills programmes and apprenticeships’.
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