Chairperson of the Communal Property Association (CPA) from Qelana locality in Mthatha, Khanyisile Ndzungu, confirmed that they had handed over 55 certificates to youth from that area who managed to finish their training at Diversity Technologies Training Institute based in Johannesburg, recently.
He said that the community members of this area were removed by the former government from the area called Langeni where they were residing before.
The reason was that government wanted to plant forests in the area of Langeni.
“We then moved to different areas where we started our new lives. The company that is ploughing trees in Langeni is paying rent to DWARF. We then decided to take some of this money and send our children to do this training.
Ndzungu confirmed that some of them were trained in Construction Equipment, Boiler making and Welding, fork-lifting and safety officers, Code 14 driver’s licence and firefighting.
He added that one of the females, Esethu Mdladla (27), chose to learn to drive a grader.
She said she is someone who always likes to try new things.
“Our course took only two weeks but now I can drive a grader. I chose to do this because it was always my dream to drive it one day. I like to take risks; that is why I did not hesitate when I was given this opportunity,” said Mdladla.
She advised young people to make sure that they also take risks because this can also help them one day.
“We are happy because our children will now have something to do instead of roaming around. When we were handing over these certificates, we invited different departments. Our intention was to ask them (these departments) to assist them where they can,” said Ndzungu.
According to him, even other areas were interested in doing the same, and as a result, community members from Mbholompo CPA had sent 44 young people to do the same programme.
