Speaker, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality wasted no time in responding to the call made by President Jacob Zuma for the government and the private sector to do more to provide unemployed graduates with opportunities to gain work experience. The rationale is to help graduates become employable. Once they are exposed to the dynamics of a working environment, they will be issued with a certificate of service upon completion. This is a form of a credible reference which will help them become employable.
The city, through its economic development department, is rolling out an experiential learning and in-service mentorship programme. This is aimed at exposing unemployed graduates to the working environment by providing them with an in-house and practical experience to acquire related skills and knowledge in their chosen disciplines.
All suitably qualified graduates who are residents of Ekurhuleni are encouraged to acquire work experience through undertaking comprehensive in- service experiential learning placements. This will be within various divisions of the metro's economic development department. According to the city officials, the graduates will be working in public administration, agriculture, project management, community development and business management.
The graduates will be given a stipend of R2 500 a month. The programme is over and above initiatives the municipality runs through its human resource management and development department that assist young people to either complete their qualifications or to gain experience after graduating. As the ANC, we support and are proud of this initiative by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
