Unemployed graduates to help Home Affairs in digitisation drive

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi recently announced that his department is set to recruit 10 000 unemployed young graduates for the digitisation of its civic paper records.

The digitisation of civic services records was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 10 February 2022.

Addressing media in Pretoria, Minister Motsoaledi said the department has more than 350 million civic paper records relating to birth, marriages, deaths and amendments.

“The category of records dates back to 1895, which necessitates care, and reliable systems that will bear tolerance for digitisation purposes. These records are in all provinces and the bulk of them are in Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape.”

Minister Motsoaledi said his department is increasingly using technology to improve the way it renders services to the people and to improve the security of documents.

The unemployed youth that the department will be recruiting are expected to be qualified in Information Technology or Document, Information and Records Management, obtained from institutions of higher learning (universities, universities of technologies and technical vocational education and training colleges).

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.

This cohort will be required to sign a three-year contract linked to the duration of the project.

Minister Motsoaledi said the project will run over a three-year period, effective from November 2022 until October 2025.

The hiring of the young unemployed graduates will be done in collaboration with the Department of Employment and Labour.

The recruitment will be carried out in phases.

Phase 1 will see recruitment of the first intake of 2 000 unemployed youth graduates.

The adverts for this phase will be available in August 2022 and the closing date for application will be the 15th of September.  This cohort will assume duty on 1 November 2022.

Phase 2 will see a further recruitment of 4 000 unemployed young graduates. The adverts for this phase will be placed during October 2022.  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.

Interested parties can register and apply online through the Home Affairs and Department of Employment and Labour websites.