Hundreds of unemployed youngsters have a chance to better themselves through experiential training that forms part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Youth Employment Service (YES) programme.

This programme enables young people without formal qualifications to gain work experience  and so better their prospects of long-term, quality employment.

Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) is supporting the YES programme this year by offering work opportunities to 520 unemployed youngsters.

It is the second year the auto maker is participating in the programme, which will see candidates placed with the company, its dealerships and its SME partners.

The youngsters began their 12-month experiential training earlier in March, with 141 candidates placed at VWSA, another 194 working in its dealership network and 185 taken in by the group’s SME host partners.

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Of the 141 working for VWSA directly, 123 have been placed at the Uitenhage plant, 10 are at the National Sales Organisation in Sandton and eight are joining the Group Parts Warehouse facility in Centurion.

In 2019, VWSA offered opportunities to 560 youngsters in partnership with the YES Foundation, Harambee and UNLOCK’D. Six of those candidates went on to secure permanent positions at VWSA and in its dealership network.

“Volkswagen remains committed to economic transformation initiatives and we believe programmes like the YES initiative have a crucial part to play in alleviating the youth unemployment crisis in our country.”

VWSA chairman and MD Thomas Schaefer

“It is our hope that our involvement in this programme will empower youth to realise their potential and gain quality employment,” Schaefer says.

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