PEOPLE
In normal circumstances, Mikateko Ruth Matshebele and Mpho Thulare would never share a classroom. Matshebele is a 37-year-old civil engineering graduate who dreams of running her own company. Thulare is a 24-yearold unemployed construction graduate trying to gain vital experience. However, for the next two weeks, the two will share a makeshift classroom on SA’s firstever course for bakkie-builders, learning the art of bricklaying.
“IT’S THEREFORE IMPORTANT THAT WE ENSURE THESE SKILLS AREN’T LOST, OR THAT WE’LL HAVE TO IMPORT THEM, AT GREAT COST, TO BUILD OUR OWN COUNTRY.”
OCTOBER 2021 SOUTH AFRICAN BUILDER
SKILLS TRAINING FOR BAKKIE-BUILDERS The short course is a venture launched by cement manufacturer PPC to upskill SA’s scores of informal builders. “PPC is a proudly South African company committed to helping build the country. Unemployment, and especially youth unemployment, is a huge challenge and it’s vital that companies like us do our bit to bridge the skills mismatch which is undermining SA’s development and help reduce unemployment levels,” says Njombo Lekula, PPC’s Southern African MD. SKILLS TRANSFER He says the initiative is also an attempt to ensure skills transfer
in the construction industry. “SA’s losing valuable skills to other countries, while young people are choosing not to study construction. It’s therefore important that we ensure these skills aren’t lost, or that we’ll have to import them, at great cost, to build our own country.” The courses on offer – which will be available across the country – include bricklaying, plastering and construction management. They incorporate both theory and practical instruction. PPC, SA’s largest manufacturer of cement, foots the bill for the
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