The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) will advertise 2 000 positions for unemployed young graduates, as part of a larger plan to hire 10 000 young graduates over three years, to help with the digitisation of civic paper records.

The first cohort will start work on November 1, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on August 11.

The department has more than 350-million civic paper records relating to birth, marriages, deaths and amendments. The category of records date back to 1895, which necessitate care and reliable systems that will support digitisation processes.

These records are kept in all provinces, with the bulk in Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape.

"The department is increasingly using technology to improve the way it renders services to the people and to improve the security of our documents. This will be possible through the realisation of the secondary objective of the digitisation project, which seeks to recruit 10 000 unemployed young graduates," Motsoaledi said.

These unemployed youth should be qualified in information technology and document, information and records management disciplines.

Young, unemployed graduates can register and apply online through the DHA and Department of Employment and Labour’s (DEL’s) websites. Those who do not have access to the Internet can visit their closest Labour Centre to apply.

Advertisements will also be placed on social media platforms, radio, print, television, Labour Centres and on the two departments' websites.

The recruitment process will adopt a blended approach wherein applications are received through walk-in centres, Labour Centres and on digital platforms.

Additionally, and parallel to the process of youth recruitment, the department is also preparing workstations and sourcing the tools required to ensure the recruited graduates are able to start digitising records by year-end.

"The project will run over three years from November to October 2025. Successful applicants will be paid a stipend ranging from R5 000 a month for entry-level positions to R9 500 a month for technical support level positions and R14 250 a month for managerial positions. This cohort will be required to sign a three-year contract linked to the duration of the project," Motsoaledi said.

Further, the department will partner with relevant stakeholders to facilitate training of the recruits. Training offered will be relevant to the job for which they are contracted to perform, continuous learning and development interventions will be provided to enhance their employability and/or allow them to leverage entrepreneurial opportunities beyond the project, he added.

The employment of the young unemployed graduates will be done in collaboration with the DEL.

The second phase of the project will see the recruitment of a further 4 000 unemployed young graduates, with adverts to be placed in October. The second cohort will start their jobs in January 2023.

The third phase will also result in 4 000 unemployed young graduates being recruited, with adverts to be placed during December and January 2023. This cohort will start work in April 2023.

Once the records are digitised, Home Affairs officials will have access to them at a click of a button and would be able to finalise applications rapidly. This will help to overcome the challenge of DHA staff having to manually search for documents, such as unabridged birth certificates and eliminate the need for citizens to visit DHA offices multiple times, Motsoaledi said.

PASSPORT SECURITY

Meanwhile, Motsoaledi also announced the first step of three to be taken by the DHA to secure the integrity of South Africa's passport.

The new measures include that a passport can only be collected strictly from the office where it was applied for, and only the person who applied for that passport can collect it by activating it through a fingerprint.

For minor children, their parents or guardians who helped them to apply for that passport will be the only ones allowed to collect and activate it using their own fingerprints.

The department invites citizens wanting to apply for passports to use the branch appointment booking system. People requiring passports can also leverage the partnership the DHA has with banks to apply and collect their travel documents, he added.