Volkswagen Group South Africa and the Office of the Premier of the Eastern Cape, have jointly initiated a programme that will train 100 unemployed people in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.

In December last year, VWSA and the Office of the Premier of the Eastern Cape, signed a funding agreement to support VWSA’s training initiatives. The R20 million funding is being used to provide training for specialist skills such as advanced PLC and robotics, vehicle electronics, applications and product development. The fund will also be utilised to upgrade training facilities and equipment.

The training is coordinated by VWSA’s Learning Academy under the watchful eye of project leader, Simphelo Peter. “Trainees will undergo a 13 week training programme that will cover fundamental skills such as the correct use of hand tools and lean manufacturing.  Thereafter, they will take part on the job production training,” said Peter.

The training has already started, with the first 30 trainees currently attending fundamental skills classes.  The training programme is linked to four unit standards within the Automotive Manufacturing Qualification and will give trainees 28 credits towards a future qualification.

The trainees, who are aged between 27 and 50 years, are grateful for the opportunity to be trained.  “I am very thankful for the experience and skills that I will attain from this training. It has empowered me in many ways and it has also given me confidence that I will be able to find a job in the future with all the skills that I am learning,” said trainee Davidene Agullas.

“We are delighted to partner with the Office of the Premier of the Eastern Cape to train some of the unemployed people in our metro.  Training and the upskilling is vitally important to give people a chance to enter the formal job market,” said Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director: Volkswagen Group South Africa.