Boitjhorisong celebrates sixth group of graduates

SASOLBURG. – The Boitjhorisong Welding Training Centre recently presented certificates of completion to its sixth group of learners, bringing the number of successfully trained learners at the center to 62, since the center in 2020.

The Centre is a partnership between Sasol, Aurex Constructors, and African Oxygen Limited (Afrox) and forms part of Sasol’s employability programme, Bridge to Work, that focuses on unemployed youth and women.

The group of graduates consists of ten structural welding learners as well as four Argon Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welders who recently completed their training at the center.Twenty of the learners progressed to the advanced training, completing their TIG welder training. Competencies obtained during the structural welding training include workplace safety, hand tools, basic hand skills, and handheld power tools as well as Stringer bead, Fillet weld, and Butt weld.

The more specialized TIG welding training prepared learners to perform high-quality welding used in industrial sectors and mechanized systems.

The purpose of ‘Bridge to Work’ is to aid fence-line community members to access meaningful work opportunities that can be converted into small businesses through structured development opportunities.

Other ‘Bridge to Work’ programmes Sasol conducts in Metsimaholo include 4IR training, also done at the Boitjhorisong Resource Centre which equips learners with skills required in the ever-changing digital world while the Iphepe Farmer Development Programme provides training in vegetable, poultry, and livestock production and management.

Head of Community Affairs at Sasol’s Sasolburg and Ekandustria Operations. Thuli Mbuli says: “Sasol recognizes the importance of actively contributing towards the alleviation of youth unemployment by providing them with scarce skills such as welding to make them more employable, but also equipping them with the necessary skills to become entrepreneurs and create even more jobs opportunities.”

Mbuli adds that qualifying participants are placed on the Aurex database as having ARC welding competencies that allow them to be recruited by service providers to assist during Sasol shutdowns as structural welders.

“Since the start of the program in 2020, more than 20 students have been placed in various companies, and over 28 job opportunities have been created.

“There are plans to expand the center, eventually offering four modules in ARC Welding, TIG (Argon) Welding, MIG Welding, and Gas Welding. Completing all modules should take about just over 2 years, including a 12-month integrated learning period,” Mbuli concludes.