Sasolburg, South Africa – Sasol, in partnership with Aurex Constructors and African Oxygen Limited (Afrox), today officially launched the Boitjhorisong Welding Training Centre in Sasolburg to contribute towards access to work skills, youth development and the economic growth of the country.
Although the Centre was only launched recently due to COVID-19 restrictions, it has been fully operational since March last year when youth from the surrounding communities of Zamdela, Deneysville and Oranjeville started with their welding training programmes.
To date, 12 Structural Welders from the first cohort have been certified.
During the launch, 10 Structural Welders and four Level 2 Argon (TIG) Welders from the second cohort were honoured and celebrated with certificates of Achievement in competencies that included Workplace Safety, Hand Tools, Basic Hand Skills and Handheld Power Tools. Armed with these qualifications, the young people now stand a better chance of getting employed and possibly starting their own welding companies in the future.
“There is a national crisis of youth unemployment and job creation in South Africa, and as Sasol we recognise the importance of actively contributing towards the alleviation of that crisis by making interventions that not only provide our local youth with scarce skills, but also equip them with the necessary skills to become entrepreneurs and create more job opportunities,” stated Thuli Mbuli, Head Community Affairs for Sasol Sasolburg and Ekandustria Operations.
Sasol has always been passionate about promoting economic participation amongst they youth, the establishment of Boitjhorisong Training Centre was built with the principles of that belief in mind.
“We invited local business, the Department of Enterprise Development and SETA to the launch in the hopes that they will absorb our qualifying cohorts into their various organisations. Our partner Aurex Constructors has also agreed to place qualifying cohorts into their database as Structural Welders so they can potentially be recruited by service providers to assist during Sasol maintenance shutdown procedures,” explained Mbuli.
“There are plans to expand and eventually offer four modules in ARC Welding, TIG (Argon) Welding, MIG Welding and gas Welding. We also recently added two more welding booths to the centre; as Sasol, we constantly and consistently seek to invest in our communities in a way that will make a positive, meaningful and long-lasting impact,” Mbuli said.
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