By Charmaine Ndlela
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), in partnership with Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Services SETA) have officially launched a R2.9 billion national internship programme aimed at placing 20,000 unemployed university and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college graduates into structured workplace learning over the next 24 months.
Photo:Eddie Mtsweni
Launched at the Mahikeng Hotel School in North West on Friday under the theme, “Experience Multiplied. Impact Magnified,” the programme seeks to bridge the gap between education and employment by giving graduates practical workplace experience, mentorship and exposure to industry while creating a pipeline of skilled workers for employers.
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Delivering his keynote address, Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela said the success of the initiative would ultimately depend on whether it moves graduates from qualifications into meaningful work.
“The test begins after today, and it is a simple test. Does this programme take a young person who has completed a qualification, place them in real work under proper supervision, and move them into employment or enterprise?” Manamela said.
Manamela said South Africa could no longer treat access to education as the end goal when many qualified young people remained locked out of the labour market because they lacked workplace experience.
“A young person can complete a qualification and then spend years being told they lack experience, without anyone explaining how experience is acquired if no employer provides the first opportunity,” he said
He described this gap between education and employment as a barrier the programme was intended to break.
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Services SETA has set aside R2.9 billion to place 20,000 university and TVET college graduates into structured workplace-based learning for 24 months.
He said the initiative would mobilise approximately 3,000 employers nationally, including government departments, municipalities, public entities, state-owned companies, private businesses and small enterprises.
An initial cohort of 1,000 placement-ready graduates has also been made available to the Offices of the Premier in all nine provinces
Manamela called on government departments, municipalities, public entities, state-owned companies, corporations and small businesses to open their workplaces to graduates.
He said employers should provide meaningful work, capable mentors and opportunities for young people to gain practical skills.
“Employers cannot remain at the end of the skills pipeline, waiting to receive a finished product. They must become co-producers of skills, helping design programmes, mentoring young people and considering them for available positions,” Manamela said.
He warned that placements should not become a revolving door where young people repeatedly enter publicly funded programmes without progressing into employment.
“A young person must leave with more than a line on a CV,” he said.
Manamela also highlighted the importance of strengthening the TVET sector and ensuring that young people gain both theoretical knowledge and practical workplace experience.
He said South Africa needed skills across a range of sectors, including the digital economy, services, finance and logistics, as well as occupational trades such as plumbing, electrical work, welding, mechanics and technical occupations.
Services SETA Administrator Lehlogonolo Masoga said the programme represented a commitment to ensuring that academic qualifications translated into meaningful careers.
“Today marks more than the launch of another programme. It marks our collective commitment to ensuring that a qualification does not become the end of a young person’s journey, but rather the beginning of a meaningful career,” Masoga said.
He said thousands of graduates leave universities and TVET colleges each year but struggle to enter the labour market because they lack practical workplace experience.
“We cannot continue to allow experience to become the barrier that prevents talent from contributing to economic growth,” he said.
Masoga said the “X” in PowerX² represented workplace experience, exposure, excellence, expansion and exchange, while the multiplication symbol represented the impact created when government, employers, institutions and mentors work together.
The programme is open to unemployed graduates holding NQF Level 4 to Level 7 qualifications obtained from public universities or TVET colleges.
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Graduates from all fields of study will be considered, with placements matched according to employers’ skills needs.
Masoga said the programme’s success would not be measured only by the number of graduates placed, but by the quality of the placements and the number of participants who progress into permanent employment, entrepreneurship or further opportunities.
“Our real measure of success will be the quality of each placement, the strength of employer participation, the development of workplace competencies and, ultimately, the transition of graduates into employment, entrepreneurship or further career opportunities,” he said.
He also urged employers across the public, private and non-profit sectors to participate by opening their workplaces and providing mentorship.
Following the launch, Manamela and Masoga addressed members of the media, where they provided further details on the implementation of the PowerX² programme.
Manamela told the 20,000 graduates who will benefit from the programme to approach their internships as an opportunity to prove themselves to potential employers.
“To the 20,000 graduates watching, treat this as a job because it’s basically an audition for a job. It’s more than an interview,” Manamela said.
He urged graduates to arrive on time, perform their tasks diligently and listen to their mentors.
“You’ve been let into the workplace to experience what it means to be working,” he said.
Manamela said graduates should use the opportunity not only to gain experience but also to identify possibilities for permanent employment, entrepreneurship or further study.
He also challenged companies to change the way they approach workplace learning by opening their workplaces as training spaces.
“What’s one thing you want companies to do differently after today? Well, let’s open up our workplaces as learning spaces,” he said.
He said factories, offices, hotels, kitchens and other places where work takes place could all provide valuable learning environments for young graduates.
During the media address, Manamela acknowledged that the programme was being launched against a backdrop of high graduate unemployment.
He said graduate unemployment remained closely linked to the country’s weak job creation, stressing that graduates should not be blamed for being unable to find work.
“We don’t obviously want to give false hope, but I think what is important is that this is an internship, it’s an intervention facilitating full-time employment,” he said.
“The fact that a graduate is unemployed is not their fault. It’s because the economy has not been producing jobs.”
Manamela said the programme was intended to help accelerate the transition from qualifications to employment by giving graduates experience that could strengthen their position in the labour market.
Manamela acknowledged concerns about what would happen to graduates who complete the 24-month programme but are not offered permanent employment.
He said that even where a graduate was not immediately absorbed, the workplace experience would improve their chances of securing employment when opportunities became available.
“If they’re not absorbed, at least they’ll be exposed, and will stand a better chance when there is employment available,” he said.
He added that the programme had been designed to ensure graduates could be considered for employment opportunities arising within participating workplaces.
Masoga also addressed concerns around the payment of stipends, assuring prospective interns that funding had already been secured.
“The money is available and we have appointed a competent project management team that will assist us in disbursing those funds to ensure every learner receives their stipend on the agreed payment date,” he said.
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He said Services SETA had also strengthened its implementation systems before launching the programme.
“We wanted to tighten all the requirements before launching. We’re ready now to deliver smoothly,” Masoga said.
Each intern will also receive a laptop when reporting for duty, which Masoga said would become their property after completion of the 24-month programme.
“Every learner who reports for duty will report with a laptop in hand, which will become their property after completing the programme,” he said.
Masoga said Services SETA would use an electronic dashboard to monitor the programme, including attendance, placements and employment outcomes.
“We have an electronic system that allows us to monitor every learner daily. We’ve done extensive preparation to ensure we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said.
He also warned graduates to be vigilant against scams and stressed that no applicant should pay anyone to gain access to the programme.
“No applicant should ever pay anyone for access to this programme,” Masoga said.
The programme will ultimately depend on the cooperation of Services SETA, employers and graduates.
“This work we’re doing is a partnership between three parties. It’s ourselves as Services SETA, the employers and the graduates. We have to work together to make sure that this programme is a success,” he said.
