Home Affairs to rope in unemployed youth to digitise millions of civic records

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, held a press briefing on Thursday, on the Digitisation of Records project, passport security and transit visas. File Picture: Angus Scholtz/African News Agency (ANA)

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, held a press briefing on Thursday, on the Digitisation of Records project, passport security and transit visas. File Picture: Angus Scholtz/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Aug 12, 2022

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Cape Town - The Department of Home Affairs is officially kick-starting its project to digitise millions of public records dating as far back as 127 years, through the recruitment of unemployed young people.

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, held a press briefing on Thursday, on the Digitisation of Records project, passport security and transit visas.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the digitisation of public records through the recruitment of 10 000 unemployed youth during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February. This will be funded through the Presidential Employment Stimulus. Recruits will convert public records from paper files to electronic formats.

The advert for the first phase intake of 2 000 youth is expected to go out today, with appointed cohorts to assume duty on November 1. The acquisition of cohorts will be done in a phased approach and in collaboration with the Department of Employment and Labour.

“The department has more than 350 million civic paper records relating to birth, marriage, death and amendments. The category of records date back to 1895, which necessitate care and a reliable system that will bear tolerance for the digitisation process. These records are in all provinces but the bulk are in Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape,” Motsoaledi said.

In the spirit of Women’s Month, 60% of the recruits will be young women.

Cohorts will be qualified in Information Technology, Document Information and Records Management through institutions of Higher Learning.

The project will run over three years from November until October 2025, and successful recruits will be paid a stipend from R5 000 for entry level positions, R9 000 for technical support level positions, and R14 250 for managerial level positions.

The cohorts will be required to sign a three-year contract for the duration of the project.

Unemployed youth can apply via the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Employment and Labour websites.

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