​Today, the City’s Executive Mayor, Dan Plato, and Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos, paid a visit to the CapaCiTi campus to see first-hand where the City’s investment is being channelled.

‘I was pleased to see the youth being empowered with skills coupled with job readiness training that will provide them with the confidence to bridge into tech skilled jobs. I applaud the institution for designing learning programmes that address the growing tech skills shortage. Additionally, the programmes help to upskill a segment of unemployed youth who have no prior experience in tech or ICT. Such initiatives are part of our commitment to build an opportunity city for our future generations,’ said Executive Mayor Plato.

The group of 100 previously disadvantaged youths on the programme are from Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Macassar, Strandfontein, Hanover Park, Milnerton, Philippi, Retreat and Mfuleni.

The training programme is structured in such a manner that it introduces the young people to entry-level information communication and technology infrastructure, and fundamental data analytics skills. The technical training component is offered for a period of six months, followed by the completion of a six-month stint as interns on work-related training placements.

‘We often say that we need to equip young people with specific job readiness skills and we need to train them to ensure a skills pipeline for the future. This training prepares the youth for a career path which could include placement as network security administrators, service desk analysts and systems support technicians.’

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‘The information communication and technology (ICT) sector has been identified as a priority sector due to its potential to grow and develop the City’s economy and contribute to job creation. Additionally, the ICT sector is also a major contributor to skills development in digital literacy,’ said Alderman Vos.

The cost to train the group of 100 students equates to R9 million that covers recruitment, technical training, corporate life skills development programmes, professional coaching, internship and employment placement activities, learners’ stipends, events such as induction and graduation, and administration. The R9 million funding for this project is made-up of a contribution of R6,5 million from the City of Cape Town with the balance coming from the National Treasury’s Job Fund.

One of the entry requirements is that participants must have a minimum qualification of a matric certificate.

This is the first time that the data analytics course is being run as part of the City of Cape Town-funded programmes. However, the City has funded the ICT Infrastructure segment in the previous financial year.

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Since July last year to date, 420 young people have been trained through this programme. The trained candidates are now being placed in internships. 

Notsana Ggyina, who lives in Delft, completed her training in ICT infrastructure.

‘Before the programme, I was unemployed for more than six months. In the ICT infrastructure training programme, we have learnt a lot about IT and did a lot of practical work at the College of Cape Town. The best outcome was getting a permanent job. Now I am permanently employed as a desktop engineer. We are currently busy with servers and configuration that I learnt at the college. I gained knowledge of IT aspects, IT essentials, and much more. Joining this programme was the best decision I have made in my life, because my career has changed for the best,’ said Notsana.

Lucky Ramonyaluoe is currently living in Gugulethu and has also completed his training in ICT infrastructure.

‘I had been looking for work for quite a while before I decided to join the CapaCiTi programme. I enjoyed every bit of the programme as it has been my dream to study IT. Because of this programme, I am permanently employed now. I am employed as a desktop engineer. It helps that we have done a lot of courses. I am currently doing patching on Cisco switches. I believe that without this programme I wouldn't be where I am today. From being unemployed, now I am permanently employed in a year with qualifications as an IT professional. What more can I say... I am grateful for the opportunity, Capaciti has changed my life,’ said Lucky.

‘The investment in such skills training programmes is well aligned with the City’s current strategic imperative, namely the development of globally competitive tech and innovation sectors. Also, these investments in digital skills development aid us all in accomplishing our goal to create an opportunity city and to support the strategic objectives of Invest Cape Town,’ added Alderman Vos.

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