Transnet would spend R7-billion on training and upskilling young South Africans as part of its commitment to economic transformation, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba told guests at a graduation ceremony for 84 graduates from the Transnet Maritime School of Excellence held at the Durban port today.

Pointing out that South Africa’s ports were perfectly placed to drive economic development and industrialisation in South Africa, he said a “massive road” still lay ahead in terms of the realisation of government’s National Development Plan.

Gigaba added that the Maritime School of Excellence, which was established last year with its main campus at Durban’s old airport site – earmarked for development into a dig out port – was an important cog in Transnet’s transformation programme and would be regarded as one of its flagship projects.

The Transnet Maritime School of Excellence merged the School of Ports and the School of Port Operations and also has campuses in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Richards Bay. Training is provided in maritime and terminal operations, port management and port engineering.

The 84 graduates who received certificates are the first batch of graduates and include cargo operators, helicopter pilots, marine pilots and engineers. Of these, 90% are black and 25% are female. Gigaba pointed out that the number of female graduates was far too low and said that Transnet needed to strive towards reaching its 50% target.

The majority of the first batch of graduates has been absorbed into Transnet operations. However, Gigaba was confident that the Maritime School of Excellence was perfectly positioned to recruit and export trained port professionals to other African countries in the not too distant future.

He said  significant opportunities for economic development were offered by South Africa’s vast and under utilised coastline. Young professionals such as those graduating would not only lead the way towards exploiting these but would also help Transnet develop South African ports into world class facilities that would be global players within the maritime industry.

Gigaba said government owned entities such as Transnet were perfectly positioned to facilitate economic transformation through key projects, pointing out that already government’s commitment to developing the boat building sector and its R50-billion outlay for the provision of new locomotives was evidence of its commitment. Local content requirements built into contracts would create jobs and have significant downstream economic benefits, he said. 

However, Gigaba cautioned, it was imperative to match economic development with the right skills. It was only doing this that the eradication of poverty and inequality and improved productivity would become realities.