The eThekwini Municipality is set to train 200 unemployed youth in plumbing and electrical work through the artisan Development Programme.

This was announced at a recent Executive Committee meeting where the Municipality accepted grant funding of R33 million from the Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) to implement the Artisan Development Programme.

Commenting on the programme Acting Deputy City Manager of the Corporate and Human Resources Cluster Dr Mpilo Ngubane said youth would be selected from a City database.

“We have advertised on a number of occasions for youth, who qualified, to register on a database to participate in such programmes. We renew and add new recipients to the database every three years. We advertised in November last year to be added to the database,” he said.

A phased roll out

This initiative is part of the Artisan Development Programme which was approved by Council in 2016 and had a targeted output of 10 000 trained artisans in various trades. The programme had a required budget of R741 million for the duration of the programme, however due to the cost; the City was unable to implement the programme at once with phases being rolled out instead.

The initial phase of implementation, partly funded by the Municipality, targeted more than 500 beneficiaries who were enrolled for three years. The programme will be ending between December and June 2020.

The recent approved funding approved will see 100 electricians and 100 plumbers trained bringing the total number of beneficiaries in the programme, which is set to start on 1 March, to 735.