On 15 February 2008, the Department of Transport and Public Works (DPW) trained volunteers in Gugulethu on the use of their new system, the Umsebenzi Portal.

The volunteers were trained on how to register themselves on the Umsebenzi registration forms. The DPW asked for unemployed volunteers to also help with registering unemployed people who want to work on the Vangate Shared Services construction site. Everybody who attended the workshop on that day agreed to help and show others how to register on the portal.

What is the Umsebenzi Portal?

Umsebenzi is the brainchild of Marius Fransman, now the former Western Cape Minister for Transport and Public Works.  Umsebenzi is an electronic database of unemployed people and their skills.  It aims to assist job seekers in finding opportunities for employment, and employers in finding qualified workers. The key initial focus will be on beneficiaries of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and other Public Works Programmes.   

This means that unemployed people who register on Umsebenzi will be considered for placement on EPWP training, skills development and work opportunity programmes.  In addition to providing unemployed people with work opportunities, the intention is to grow the skills of these people so as to make them eligible for other forms of employment.

The workshop on 15 February

Veronique Veldsman, an Expanded Public Works Programme coordinator at the DPW, told the volunteers about current DPW projects. She also encouraged people to register on the portal and to tell all the unemployed people they know to register themselves too. She said that, as far as possible, people who registered their names on the portal would be selected for interviews and placement on projects closest to their addresses.

Veronique also explained that the idea of registering unemployed people is to help them find opportunities for employment and also for employers to find suitable workers to employ.  She encouraged the volunteers to use SmartCape for free Internet access, so that they would always be the first to know about projects that are happening around them.

Are you unemployed and looking for training and work opportunities?  If so, register on the new Umsebenzi Portal - making the unemployed employable.