The City of Cape Town’s Corporate Services Directorate has, through the Infrastructure Skills Development Grant Programme (ISDG), helped unemployed engineering and science graduates register with their various professional bodies such as the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP). In total, the City has mentored and facilitated 106 graduates since the start of this programme. The National Treasury has been funding the ISDG Programme since July 2014.
Currently, there are 28 graduates completing the ISDG programme who are on their path to being registered with their respective professional bodies. Some of these individuals attended the ISDG working session hosted by the National Treasury at the Cape Town International Convention Centre today, 13 July 2023. The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services, Alderman Theresa Uys also attended and addressed the group of graduates and mentors. The purpose of today’s session was for graduates to gain an understanding on the ECSA’s new registration process and system.
Some of the City’s ISDG graduates in attendance included:
· Mogamat Basadien, 33, Civil Engineer from Grassy Park who is now a permanent employee within the City’s Transport Infrastructure Implementation department
· Rahima Noordien, 29, Civil Engineer from Grassy Park who is now a permanent employee within the City’s Water and Sanitation directorate
· Wandisile Kubayi, 26, Civil Engineer from Bellville who is now a permanent employee within the City’s Water and Sanitation directorate
· Pollen Dyantyi, 25, Civil Engineer from Delft who is now a permanent employee within the City’s Sustainable Energy Market branch
These graduates all started with the ISDG programme over the last few years and were later permanently appointed by the City of Cape Town. They are still continuing with their road to registration with the ECSA.
‘The purpose of the ISDG programme is to enhance capacity and build a pool of resources within the City through the training and registration of unemployed graduates with their respective statutory councils. Unemployed South African citizen graduates below the age of 35 within the City of Cape Town will be given preference. I therefore urge graduates who meet this criteria to please look out for the upcoming advertisement for the City’s new intake of ISDG graduates later this month. The ISDG programme is crucial in imparting specific scarce skills, abilities and knowledge. It is encouraging to see how many graduates have already benefitted from this programme. The City is always looking at ways of providing opportunities to the youth, and this is an excellent example of how we are assisting these bright minds to enter the job market,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services, Alderman Theresa Uys.
The ISDG programme is an expansion of an existing internal Graduate Internship Programme and the City’s Human Resources Department has structures in place to support it.
Many of these graduates have been appointed as permanent City employees at various branches within the City.
Another success story which emanated from this programme over the past financial year included two of the City’s Natural Science graduates Pateka Menzi, 25, from Rondebosch and Dolly September, 31 from Silversands who both successfully registered with the South SACNASP. The mentoring and practical experience gained from the City’s ISDG programme guided these two graduates along the road to registration and also provided them with the necessary experience to secure permanent job opportunities within the City’s Scientific Services branch in the Water and Sanitation directorate.
The ISDG prepares Engineering and Science graduates by giving them exposure in various science and engineering fields, ensuring that they are registered/eligible for registration as professional natural scientists; professional engineers; technologists or technicians.
Applicants are required to be in the possession of a BSc Eng/BSc Hons/ MTech/ MSc/ PhD/ BTech/M.Eng qualification in one of the following disciplines:
• Civil/Chemical/Mechanical/Electrical or Industrial Engineering
• Planning
• Environmental Science
• Materials Science
• Microbiology
• Biotechnology
• Virology
• Chemical Science
• Chemistry
• Atmospheric Science
• Hydrogeology
• Geochemistry
• Hydrology
The City will advertise these opportunities on its e-recruitment website and job portals such as CareerJunction; Linkedin; Bizcommunity, Careers24 and Pnet.
