R95.9m to train 1 020 KZN youth, with the contractor's fee held back until they qualify

A R95.9 million skills project will train 1 020 young people in KwaZulu-Natal in aircraft maintenance engineering and wheel balancing, with the aim of improving their employment prospects and encouraging entrepreneurship.

The Department of Higher Education and Training approved the funding through the National Skills Fund over 43 months. Fuze Business Initiative implements the project, which was launched at Obiri Airport in Pietermaritzburg this week.

Twenty apprentices are on a three-year aircraft maintenance engineering programme in uMgungundlovu. The remaining 1 000 learners are pursuing a National Qualifications Framework Level 3 wheel balancer qualification: 300 in Newcastle, 200 in Mooi River and 500 in Mpumza, Pietermaritzburg. Recruited learners began training in August and receive monthly stipends, toolkits and protective equipment.

Delivering the keynote address, Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the department’s investment through the fund was aimed at practical, industry-relevant skills. The budget makes provision for registering cooperatives, and she told learners the intention goes beyond employment.

“We are not only training you to be employed. We are expecting some of you to employ others,” she said.

She said the initiative came at a time when unemployment remains a major challenge, particularly among young people, and stressed that training must align with industry needs so that learners acquire skills the labour market is asking for. The programme also aims to prepare young people for emerging occupations in electric and hybrid vehicle systems, drone maintenance, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostics and green hydrogen.

Public money has to show a return, she said. Part of the management fee payable to Fuze Business Initiative will be withheld until agreed outcomes are achieved.

“We will measure you, in the spirit of Batho Pele, on value for money: on how many learners complete, how many qualify, and how many find work or start enterprises.”

Dube-Ncube also called on training providers and host employers to ensure safe learning and working environments, with clear policies and reporting channels for gender-based violence and harassment.

“No economy can grow while its women live in fear. No learner can master a trade while she is afraid to walk to the training site,” she said.

She urged young men to use strength in their hands to build rather than break. “A real man repairs engines. He does not break the people who love him. Call out your friends. Refuse to be silent.”

To the young women in the programme she said: “You belong in the hangar, in the workshop and in the boardroom. If you are harmed or threatened, speak out. You will be believed, and you will be supported.”

The Gender-Based Violence Command Centre is available day and night on 0800 428 428.

The project forms part of the department’s wider skills drive. For the 2026/27 financial year it is targeting more than 520 000 Technical and Vocational Education and Training college enrolments, including 91 800 workplace-based learning opportunities and 22 000 artisan certifications. Dube-Ncube said the fund’s Artisan Massification Programme is a separate R2.39 billion investment aimed at producing more than 10 000 artisans.

She also pointed to demand for South African-trained artisans and aircraft maintenance engineers elsewhere on the continent as specialised skills grow scarce.

This report is drawn from the SAnews (South African Government News Agency) account of the launch, which summarises the deputy minister’s address rather than reproducing the full text. The original is at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/r959m-project-train-kzn-youth-job-ready-skills.