Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Boitumelo Moloi has asked the community of De Aar to use the newly-opened Employment Centre in their search for jobs and also develop entrepreneurial skills.
“Let us begin to disrupt the status quo. Let us now learn and be trained to be employers,” Moloi said when delivering her speech ahead of the opening of the new Employment Centre in De Aar, Northern Cape today.
The establishment of the De Aar is part of the Department’s Public Employment Services (PES) branch to assist work seekers to have a leg into the job market.
To take services to the people, the Department has embarked on a national programme to build fully connected Employment Centres, offering, registration of work seekers, job search, CV compilation, accessing counselling services, access to career advice portal, career interest self-evaluation … and many other useful tools that can help the work seekers, especially the youth along their pathway to securing a job opportunity.
Moloi said to the De Aar community to desist from the practice of vandalism and destruction of property when feeling aggrieved, she appealed: “Protect the Employment Centre dearly. I do not want when I come back here and find things broken”.
A typical Employment Centre is equipped with stations and self-help kiosks (online self-help) that provides access to the entire Department of Employment and Labour online applications and service and supporting partners platforms. A flat screen TV is mounted at an Employment Centre to display all available services of the Department and available opportunities on Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA), a job matchmaking platform. The Centre also acts as an assessment area for use by Career Counsellors
To date employment centres have been launched in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Mdantsane and Newcastle. These are located at Department’s Labour Centres.
A Employment Centre acts as a one-stop shop for clients where all Departmental services are integrated and beneficial towards placement in job/learning opportunities or self-employment. The centre will provide services to surrounding towns and other areas. It also forms parts of a District Development Model which seeks to integrate service provision.
Various organisations, SETAs and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in their messages of support have committed to work close with the Department.
NYDA representative Buhle Ntsenge whose organisation he said did not have an office in the Town was ready to take space at the Employment Centre and complement the Department’s work.
Department’s PES Deputy Director-General, Sam Morotoba said the programme was geared to open more Employment Centres, especially in the country targeting areas with high unemployment rates. Morotoba encouraged young people to explore opportunities in faraway places and not only restrict themselves to their locality.
The Northern Cape has a population of over 1,3 million. De Aar is part of the Emthanjeni Local Municipality with a population estimated at 47 000 and has about 23 760 people. The province has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the country. According to Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2023, the youth unemployment rate (15-34 years) in De Aar stood at 54,5 percent.
The causes of unemployment in the Province are said to be a lack of skills and training, limited access to resources and opportunities, and a shortage of jobs. The De Aar Labour Centre is one of 12 visiting points in the province.
In the 2022/23 the Department’s (ESSA) online job matching platform had 34 000 work seekers registered in De Aar, with some 6 411 employment opportunities registered. The labour centre in the same period provided employment counselling to 13 440 registered work seekers. The centre also placed 3 358 work seekers.
De Aar also known as Maraisfontein in a town in Northern Cape with the most important railway junction in the country. The town is a major production centre for wool production and livestock farming. It is the third largest town in the province.
The opening of the De Aar Employment Centre is part of the Department of Employment and Labour in collaboration with other government departments, Sector Education & Training Authorities (SETAs), and the local municipalities in the province to host National Careers Week and Fairs.
On the 25-26 May 2023 the focus shift to Kuruman, Northern Cape Province.
Source: South Africa Government
