To create a strong pipeline of trained welders, Premier Panyaza Lesufi officially opened the Alstom Ubunye Welding School in Nigel, Ekurhuleni on Friday.
Initially intended for skills development for Alstom employees in 2017, the school now opens its doors to community members wanting to acquire formal training in welding.
A community member and graduate at school, Bridgette Adams, said the experiential programme has exposed her to many things, from being part of a company to the actual working experience of meeting and learning from people from different walks of life.
“It has also reignited my passion for welding because when you are welding for a certain amount of time and meet the needed requirements, you feel good about the job, and you smile at your work which is a feeling I have never experienced before.
“Coming out of this experience, I feel the need to learn more and further my knowledge and skills as a female welder and to be a young mother who I can now be a good role model,” said Bridgette.
Speaking at the launch, Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the opening of the Alstom Ubunye School of Welding serves as an institutional catalyst for attaining strategic objectives in this massive task of equipping our people with skills critical skill sets which can ignite economic growth in our province.
“This inauguration of the Alstom Ubunye’s Accredited Welding School shows that if we work together as government and business, we can overcome the most seemingly intractable odds,” said Lesufi.
The Premier said it is about time young people are equipped with fundamental skills that position Gauteng as a skills hub of the country. He said the willingness of youth to spend their lifetime here affirms that the youth who received training here have acquired what they never thought they will gain.
“We have finalised our future document skills and will share that with you. It contains the skills that Gauteng will need in the next 15 years.”
The Premier concluded by stating that launching a skills revolution is critical to rebuilding and growing the Gauteng economy as the basis for fighting unemployment, inequality and poverty.
Lerato Mailoane