The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has started digitising over 350 million documents.
Home affairs minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi today briefed the media on the recruitment of 10 000 unemployed youth graduates to join the digitisation project of home affairs records.
The announcement follows president Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address in February, when he said the DHA will recruit 10 000 unemployed young people for the digitisation of paper records, enhancing their skills and contributing to the modernisation of citizen services.
Today's announcement comes as South Africa continues to bear the burden of unemployment.
StatsSA’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2022 shows the unemployment rate was 63.9% for those aged 15-24 and 42.1% for those aged 25-34, while the current official national rate stands at 34.5%.
According to Motsoaledi, the department has more than 350 million civic paper records relating to birth, marriages, deaths and amendments.
He noted the category of records date back to 1895, which necessitate care and reliable systems that will bear tolerance for digitisation purposes.
The minister noted these records are in all provinces, with the bulk in Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape.
The digitisation project will run over a three-year period, effective from November 2022 until October 2025.
Successful youth will be paid a stipend ranging from R5 000 for entry-level positions to R9 500 for technical support level positions and R14 250 for manager level positions, said the minister.
“This cohort will be required to sign a three-year contract linked to the duration of the project,” he said.
“The department will partner with relevant stakeholders to facilitate training of these recruits. Training offered will be relevant to the job for which they are contracted to perform, and continuous learning and development interventions will be provided to enhance their employability and/or allow them to leverage on entrepreneurial opportunities beyond the project.”
Motsoaledi pointed out that the acquisition of the young unemployed graduates will be done in collaboration with the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL).
He said considering the large number to be recruited, the acquisition process will be undertaken in a phased approach as follows:
Phase 1 – will see recruitment of the first intake of 2 000 unemployed youth graduates. The adverts for this phase will be available as from tomorrow, 12 August. This cohort will assume duty on 1 November.
Phase 2 – will see a further recruitment of 4 000 unemployed youth graduates. The adverts for this phase will be placed during October. This cohort will assume duty in January 2023.
Phase 3 – will see a further and last recruitment of 4 000 unemployed youth graduates. The adverts for this phase will be placed during December 2022 and January 2023. This cohort will assume duty in April 2023.
Youth can register and apply online through the DHA and DEL websites. Those that don’t have access to the internet can visit their closest Labour Centre of the Department of Employment and Labour.
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