The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has published the first job listings for its digitisation project, which seeks to recruit 10,000 unemployed young graduates.
The listings are aimed at unemployed South Africans between 18 and 35, and people with disabilities. The positions pay R5,000 to R14,250 per month.
Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s department, in partnership with the Department of Employment and Labour, is hiring 2,000 people for 11 different roles during this first recruitment round.
Candidates are required to register on the Employment Services of South Africa website to apply.
The job advertisement specifies that positions are subject to fixed-term contracts from 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2025.
“During the tenure of the contract, the youth with receive continuous learning and development interventions to improve their skills for optimal performance and to equip them for future employment and /or entrepreneurial opportunities,” the advert reads.
It adds that shortlisted candidates must provide a copy of their qualifications and identity document.
The available positions and their salaries are provided in the table below.
| Home Affairs digitalisation positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Role | Number of positions | Salary (monthly) |
| Runner and Prepper | 320 | R5,000 |
| Re-assembler | 200 | R5,000 |
| Receiving clerk | 50 | R5,000 |
| Driver | 8 | R5,000 |
| Indexer | 800 | R5,500 |
| Scanner | 400 | R5,000 |
| Quality controller | 100 | R6,000 |
| Team leader | 104 | R6,500 |
| Technical support | 12 | R9,500 |
| Manager | 6 | R14,250 |
The duration of the fixed-term contracts and their monthly stipends align with what Motsoaledi revealed on 11 August 2022.
“The project will run over a three-year period, effective from November 2022 until October 2025,” Motsoaledi said.
“Successful youth will be paid a stipend ranging from R5,000 for entry-level positions to R9,500 for Technical Support-level positions and R14,250 for Manager-level positions.”
Motsoaledi explained that his department’s hiring project would be rolling out with a phased approach — this being the first of three recruitment bouts.
The second phase will see the intake of a further 4,000 unemployed youth graduates, with advertisements published in October 2022. The cohort will begin their duties in January 2023.
The final round of recruitment includes the intake of a further 4,000 unemployed graduates, and Motsoaledi said the advertisements for these positions will go live between December 2022 and January 2023.
The cohort will assume its duties in April 2023.
Motsoaledi specified that the project would prioritise hiring unemployed women in South Africa.
“In this month of women, and to honour the heroines of the 1956 march to the Union Buildings, we wish to announce that 60% of the intake will be of young women and only 40% will be young men,” he said.
He added that the recruitment drive is necessary to help the department digitise over 350 million civic paper records of birth, marriages, deaths, and amendments, most of which are in Gauteng, the North West, and the Western Cape.
The DHA began the process in 2016.
President Cyril Ramaphosa first announced the DHA recruitment drive — part of an extension of the Presidential Employment Stimulus programme — during his State of the Nation address in February 2022.
He said the project would improve young graduates’ skillsets while contributing to the modernisation of the DHA’s services.