The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) initiative to hire 10,000 young graduates has created almost 3,700 jobs for unemployed youths since it kicked off in August 2022, with more than 260 leaving for better opportunities.
This is according to Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who also revealed that the department had digitised nearly 31.5 million images as of 29 February 2024 in response to parliamentary questions from Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos.
“The advert for the first 1st 2,000 cohort of unemployed graduates was published in the 2022/23 financial year, leading to the initial employment of 1,405 graduates,” said Motsoaledi.
“This number has been decreasing due to youth finding better opportunities elsewhere. As of 31 January 2024, a total of 1,142 youth were still in the employ of the department.”
According to the DHA’s first job advert, this is precisely what the initiative aimed to achieve.
“During the tenure of the contract, the youth will receive continuous learning and development interventions to improve their skills for optimal performance and to equip them for future employment and /or entrepreneurial opportunities,” it said.
To this end, 260 of the unemployed graduates who successfully applied and worked for the DHA have already left for better opportunities.
Motsoaledi said the advert for the second round of hiring closed in March 2023. Of 439,000 applicants, 2,550 were successful.
“In December 2023, the Department issued 2,550 appointment letters to qualifying applicants,” he stated.
“This brings the total number of young graduates employed for the digitisation project close to 3,700.”
He added that the third and final cohort will be recruited in the 2024/25 financial year.
The initiative aims to employ young graduates, who will help digitise over 350 million civic paper records of birth, marriages, deaths, and amendments, most of which are in Gauteng, the North West, and the Western Cape.
“As of 29 February 2024, the department had digitised 31,419,990 images, which translates to 714,016 records. Records consist of paper records and microfilms,” Motsoaledi said.
While the project has recorded some success, it is behind schedule.
Motsoaledi initially said the third phase of the recruitment drive would begin between December 2022 and January 2023, with successful graduates scheduled to start their duties in April 2023.
The listings are aimed at unemployed South African graduates between 18 and 35 and people with disabilities. The positions pay R5,000 to R14,250 per month.
The first round of job adverts included salaries for each position. The available posts were as follows:
- Jogger and Prepper — monthly salary of R5,000
- Re-assembler — monthly salary of R5,000
- Receiving Clerk — monthly salary of R5,000
- Driver — monthly salary of R5,000
- Indexer — monthly salary of R5,000
- Scanner — monthly salary of R5,000
- Quality Controller — monthly salary of R6,000
- Group Leader — monthly salary of R6,500
- Technical Support — monthly salary of R9,500
- Manager — monthly salary of R14,250
The duration of the fixed-term contracts and their monthly stipends aligned with what the minister revealed in August 2022.
He had also announced that the project will run over three years, from November 2022 until October 2025.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the DHA recruitment drive during his State of the Nation address in February 2022. It forms part of an extension of the Presidential Employment Stimulus programme.
He said the project would improve young graduates’ skillsets while contributing to the modernisation of the DHA’s services.
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