In an attempt to reduce the skills shortage in the East-ern Cape and meet the require-ments of investors, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) has helped to establish a Centre of Excellence for Welding in the East Cape Midlands College, in Uitenhage. This initiative is in line with the process of identifying critical skills required for the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), in particular. The CDC project manager for recruitment and placement, Duncan Grenfell, says, “The Mega projects human resource development task team established with various stakeholders in May last year outlined the process towards identifying initiatives that would realise the skills development for the Coega IDZ.” Through a partnership with Manufacturing Engineering and Related Services seta (Mer-seta) an agreement was signed by the three parties.

According to Grenfell, the current pipeline of potential investments in the Coega IDZ is valued at over R28-billion over the next few years, requiring various scarce skills. “It is estimated that about 22 000 jobs will be created in future projects for the zone,” explained Grenfell. Welding is one the critical skills that will be required by the Coega IDZ. “Through implementing this initiative, the CDC will contribute to the Joint initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), which is the skills empowerment arm of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa,” says Grenfell.

East Cape Midlands College CEO, Jama-ngile Mbana is thrilled that his college has been chosen as the place to base the Centre of Excellence. “We are extremely proud of the fact that our college has been chosen as a Centre of Excellence. “We are also particularly proud of the fact that we will offer skills that will be directly needed by the Coega IDZ because we have been looking for an entry point into providing skills that will be required by the Coega project,” he said. Mbana also noted that government has recognised the critical role that FET Colleges will play in the skills initiative. According to Mbana, the process of recruit-ing students will start this month, when they will start registering 20 to 25 students. The number is expected to grow as demand increases.

Merseta Eastern Cape Regional Manager Zwelethemba Ngayeka says that geographi-cally the college was the best place to locate the centre of excellence. “The college is centrally located to many farmlands such as Graaf-Reinet, and it can also be accessed by students who live in rural areas,” he commented. According to Ngayeka another reason that the college was chosen is that it is one of the top implementers in learnerships through Merseta. “It is a training provider for most companies that are aligned with Merseta,” concluded Ngayeka.

The CDC’s acting CEO, Khwezi Tiya, also highlighted that the agreement is a practical example of the partnership approach that the CDC has adopted in developing the Coega IDZ. “It was one of many that will be developed to ensure the availability of critical skills for the investment sectors that have been identified for the Coega IDZ,” Tiya said. He added that this proactive approach provides the necessary best practice for the country on how to deal with the critical skills gaps identified as part of the Jipsa initiative.

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