The Department of Employment and Labour says that 85,820 people applied for the 10,000 positions that opened up to handle the digitisation of records at the Department of Home Affairs – but only 23,374 qualified to be assessed and interviewed.
Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi launched the recruitment drive in August. The department said it was putting the final touches on the process leading to interviews and placements.
The digitisation project specifically targets young IT graduates, who will work over the next three years to capture more than 350 million civic paper records relating to birth, marriages, deaths and amendments.
The category of records dates back to 1895, which necessitates care and reliable systems that will bear tolerance for digitisation purposes. These records are in all provinces and the bulk of which are in Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape, the minister said.
The project is expected to run over a three-year period, effective from November 2022 until October 2025. The recruitment drive is divided into three phases:
- Phase 1 – will see the recruitment of the first intake of 2,000 unemployed youth graduates. This cohort will assume duty on 1 November 2022.
- Phase 2 – will see further recruitment of 4,000 unemployed youth graduates. This cohort will assume duty in January 2023.
- Phase 3 – will see a further and last recruitment of 4,000 unemployed youth graduates. This cohort will assume duty in April 2023.
Successful candidates will be paid a stipend ranging from R5,000 for entry-level positions to R9,500 for technical support level positions and R14,250 for manager level positions. This cohort will be required to sign a three-year contract linked to the duration of the project.
Unemployed youth should be qualified in information technology and document, information and records management, obtained from institutions of higher learning (universities, universities of technologies, TVETs).
Successful candidates will be subjected to suitability checks in terms of citizenship, credit, criminal and qualification verification.
Home Affairs has partnered with the Department of Employment and Labour to use the department’s online recruitment platform called Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA).
Prospective candidates that meet the criteria should register on the ESSA. Those that do not have internet access should visit the nearest Labour Centre of the Department of Employment and Labour.
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