The City of Tshwane believes its efforts to build internal capacity are beginning to bear fruit, with 85 artisans graduating from the municipality’s own training academy and 23 being absorbed into various departments.
Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya presided over the graduation ceremony of the 23 artisans, who have been nicknamed Amabutho, a Zulu word meaning “warriors”. She highlighted the financial benefits of developing an in-house workforce to handle the municipality’s repair and maintenance needs.
Following the pass-out ceremony, Moya deployed the 23 artisans to various units across the City, where they will work on the repair and maintenance of municipal facilities.
“So, building internal capacity, I mean, we’re building internal capacity across different departments. You would have seen our initiative to buy our own tankers, our own jet catchers for potholes, our own road-marking equipment, our own street sweepers, and even in terms of employment, we would have promoted, you know, even at the emergency services department, you would have seen us employing our own security guards and cleaners.
“So this group is joining that family of departments where we just want to have control in terms of how we serve the people,” Moya said during the pass-out ceremony.
The programme brings together 23 newly appointed artisans, comprising three welders, 10 plumbers and 10 electricians. All are graduates of the Tshwane Local Government Skills Academy, linking skills developed through the City’s own training institution directly to municipal service delivery.
“On Tuesday, we had a graduation of 85 artisans from the different trades that have been through the system or training for three years, and we were graduating them.
“What is different about that cohort is that they are now being absorbed as part of the training in the City of Tshwane, so that we can also train them at work. So today, it’s 23 additional to all these trained artisans.
“We train them in our own academy, which is the Tshwane Leadership and Management Academy. So today it’s 23,” said Moya.
The City has also been insourcing security guards and cleaners as part of its broader efforts to reduce reliance on private-sector service providers.
Moya estimates that deploying the 23 artisans internally will save the municipality no less than R20 million a year in repair and maintenance costs.
“These ones will be focusing on the buildings of the City. We’ve got about 2,000 buildings that are owned by the City that we need to maintain.
“What we were looking for, in addition to just building internal capacity, was to save money.
“So, just having these 23 artisans that we have now, we’re going to save about R20 million per annum that used to go to service providers. Now that money is being redirected towards their stipends and tools of trade,” said Moya.
The initiative forms part of Tshwane’s broader strategy to strengthen municipal capacity, reduce outsourcing costs and improve the City’s ability to deliver and maintain essential services using its own workforce.