Mr Robinson

Antoine Robinson, secretary general of the Seychelles Federation Workers Union (SFWU) has called for sharing of information and more cooperation to minimise the impact of Covid-19 on our economy and the working sector.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION yesterday, Mr Robinson noted that the need for social dialogue in addressing the Covid-19 crisis is very important.

He said we will only be able to overcome the virus by having an open and transparent discussion between employers, employees, and government.

Since the start of the pandemic many workers have come to the SFWU for advice, Mr Robinson remarked, adding that workers are now more conscious of the importance of having a union that represents them.

Mr Robinson also praised the president for chairing multiple forums in which heads of various sectors can discuss solutions to deal with the virus.

“In these forums, I was able to explain to the president that workers won’t be able to live on welfare solely so we proposed to him that workers get the minimum wage when they are made redundant,” said Mr Robinson.

He further noted that extra steps were taken by the government when it created the Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (Sets) that represents a relief net for workers made redundant.

Mr Robinson also remarked that there is a discussion between workers union, employment, and businesses to replace GOP workers who are not working right now with local workers who have been made redundant.

“Workers that have their jobs right now need to be more serious and more productive to make sure that they maintain their job. One of the positives that has come out of the virus is that many workers are now more serious as they are fearful of being made redundant,” he said.

As for foreign workers, Mr Robinson noted that some employers have asked the government to transfer their foreign workers whom they are not able to pay to other businesses who will renew their contract.

“This will reduce the request to import foreign workers and use those who are already in the country,” said Mr Robinson.

He remarked that in order to do so negotiations will be have to be made between the foreigner, the original employer, and the department of employment to make sure that everything is legal.

 

Christophe Zialor

President Faure during his tour of the employment department

President Danny Faure has called on the youth to take opportunities given to them with regards to placement in employment and to make use of those opportunities as the situation is slowly worsening in terms of job availability on the market amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

President Faure made the call while addressing a group of young job seekers, under the Skills Development Programme who were at the employment department in the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status at Independence House, undergoing training in relation to employment. The president was at the department as part of his ongoing visits to key services to meet and thank the employees for the work they are doing.

It was after his visit to the department on the fifth floor of independence House Annex, accompanied by Minister Myriam Telemaque and other high officials in her ministry, that President Faure attended the Skills Development Programme briefing to the youths followed by a management meeting.

Speaking to the group of young job seekers, President Faure said that through a recent United Nation’s report, one in sixth youth worldwide are losing their jobs, adding on to the much older people who are also losing their jobs, which further show the unavailability of jobs in the wake of the pandemic.

Still on the subject, President Faure further said that our country has not been spared from the problem of lack of jobs on the labour market which will continue to persist as long as the pandemic goes on.

He encouraged the young people to take the opportunities being offered by government through the schemes (My First Job Scheme targeting youths from professional centres), the Skills Development Programme (targeting youths between 15 years old and 30 years old) and the Unemployment Relief Scheme (targeting vulnerable people) being implemented by the employment department and through the newly formed employment company, the Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (Sets), for job application and training.

Since the beginning of the year, 303 young people registered for the Skills Development Programme and by August 12, 2020, only 125 of them are still waiting for a job placement.

“In cabinet we have taken the decision for all of the 125 youths to be given a job placement by the month of September,” President Faure said, noting that the youths in Seychelles are lucky as such programmes do not exist in other countries.

“We are not perfect but we have a heart to nurse all of our citizens and a heart to guide all of our youths,” he added, calling on the youths to show good work attitudes, work hard and to listen and learn from their peers so as to be able to maintain job stability.

President Faure also called on the youths to be grateful and to always remember to thank those that give them the helping hand.

The principal secretary for employment, Jules Baker, said they welcomed the visit by President Faure to the department. He added that the visit had given them (the management) the opportunity to brief him on the challenges the department is facing in terms of availability of jobs on the labour market for the growing number of clients, on the increase in redundancies, the functioning of the different schemes and on the way forward among other topics in regards to employment in the wake of the pandemic.

He noted that though people are losing jobs, the youths are still the most vulnerable as some of them (school leavers from the ages of 15-20 years old) have no baggage in terms of work experience to fight for the limited jobs available on the labour market with the experienced ones.

PS Baker said that while efforts are being made to assist young job seekers, the department is also working hard to assist the over 4,000 people seeking assistance for a job under the URS scheme. He noted that the number was only between 1500 to 2000 people, registered under URS for 2019. To date, 533 Seychellois workers have been made redundant with the number expected to rise in the coming weeks and months.

He stated that President Faure had requested for more consultation and working collaboration with stakeholders in other government ministries, agencies and in the private sector with regard to job opportunities on the labour market.

He added that the President has only tasked the department to plan for its interventions as from January 2021, should the situation on the labour market worsens.

 

Patrick Joubert

 
President Faure addressing the minister, staff of the employment department and the youngsters on the Skills Development Programme

President Danny Faure has called on young people to take the opportunities given to them with regards to job placement and to make use of them as the employment situation is slowly worsening in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Faure made the call while addressing a group of young job seekers under the Skills Development Programme who are undergoing training with the employment department within the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status at Independence House Annex.

The President was welcomed by the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Myriam Télémaque, principal secretary for the employment Department, Jules Baker. He visited various sections of the department before meeting with the director general for employment promotion, Letimie Dookley, together with applicants to the Skills Development Programme. The Skills Development programme was officially launched in 2016 and allows youths aged between 15 to 30 years old who have not been able to graduate from secondary or post-secondary level to undertake skills development training at various organisations.

President Faure encouraged the applicants to stay motivated and demonstrate the highest levels of discipline when in placement.

 
PS Baker

All staff of the Savoy and Coral Strand hotels have been paid their July salaries in full, with tax and pension contributions paid, by the Russian based Eastern European Engineering Limited (EEEL) responsible for both hotels.

This follows an imposed 48-hour ultimatum for the company to settle the salary issue after failing to do so last week.

It was the principal secretary for employment, Jules Baker, who made the announcement to the press yesterday afternoon in his office at Independence House Annex.

The company was given the 48-hour ultimatum from August 7, 2020 to Saturday 8, 2020 to pay off the local staff’s net salaries in full including tax and pension as required by law or face legal action.

PS Baker said that the Ministry of Employment, Immigration & Civil Status, through negotiations with EEEL, learned that the money (R884,475 in the Coral Strand account and R1,395,564 in the Savoy account) to pay the local staff’s salaries was transferred into Nouvobanq on August 8, 2020. As Nouvobanq and other banks are closed on Saturdays, the money was distributed into the staff’s different individual bank accounts as of yesterday afternoon as per their banks’ procedures and transactions.

In all, 144 staff from Savoy Resort and Spa Hotel and 84 staff from the Coral Strand Hotel were expected to receive their full or the missing part of their salaries by yesterday afternoon and throughout today (Tuesday).

The hotel workers had refused to work on Friday, August 7, 2020 after they had learned that they had been paid, through their bank accounts, only part of their basic salaries (Savoy employees at 89% and Coral Strand employees at 41%), excluding tax and pension payment although the company had been assisted under the Financial Assistance For Job Retention (FA4JR) scheme. The company did pay in full the salaries of their employees for the months of May and June but apart from paying only part of the staff’s salaries for the month of July, it was also in default of paying out their taxes and pensions to relevant authorities since May 2020.

PS Baker stated that as of the month of August 2020, the government under the FA4JR scheme has taken the decision to pay the taxes and pensions on behalf of the local employees of the two hotels directly to the relevant authorities and will only transfer their basic net salaries in the accounts of the two hotels to be paid to them possibly by the end of August 2020.

“The problem would not have happened this month because actually the issue was that government under the FA4JR paid the whole gross salary for the workers for May and June whereby part of their salaries related to tax and pension contributions were not paid and therefore the Ministry of Finance did not pay the gross salaries for July as the money was still in the bank accounts of Savoy and Coral Strand,” PS Baker said.

Speaking on liable penalties to be taken against EEEL, PS Baker said that while relevant information is being gathered before proceeding to present a court case, the company is also being given the opportunity to show proof of its salary payment transactions for the local employees.

He further said that in another case, the ministry is in the process of filing a court case for salary deferment of foreign workers, especially those still stranded in the country, against the two hotels. He said that a third letter to the EEEL to act on the deferment of salaries of the foreign workers is forthcoming following non compliant replies from two previous letters sent on July 16, 2020 and early August 2020.

 

Patrick Joubert

PS Baker addressing the workers

The company responsible for both the Savoy Resort and Spa Hotel and the Coral Strand Hotel at Beau Vallon has been given a 48-hour notice as of yesterday, August 6, to pay in full the basic salaries for the month of July 2020 for its local employees in both establishments or face legal action.

It was the principal secretary for employment, Jules Baker, who made the statement following a one-hour meeting on the subject with the management of both hotels, including staff representatives and the chairman of the Seychelles Federation of Workers Union (SFWU), Antoine Robinson.

This follows the company failing to pay the employees their full July salaries by Wednesday August 5, 2020 as required by law which resulted in a strike yesterday morning by the hotel workers who refused to work after they had learned that they had been paid, through their bank accounts, only part of their basic salaries (Savoy employees at 89% and Coral Strand employees at 41%), excluding tax and pension payment.

“We have given them the 48-hour timeline to negotiate with their head office in Russia with which we are also in negotiation and we expect that we will sort it out within the 48 hours. So if it is not sorted out, appropriate actions will be taken,” Mr Baker said, noting that the company is in default with the law for failing to pay the salaries on time and in full, and also in default for failing to pay the taxes and pensions of the workers.

He claimed that the company should have informed the workers well in advance that their taxes and pensions were not being paid for May 2020 and June 2020, due to its accounts being frozen as a result of a court case.

The company, who is being assisted under the Financial Assistance For Job Retention (FA4JR) scheme as of the month of June 2020, did pay in full the salaries of their employees for that month (June) following a protest by the Coral Strand Hotel employees at the Independence and a protest by the Savoy employees at the State House gate entrance that same month. The company’s application was rejected for the FA4JR scheme as it was found that it had enough money to pay for its workers wages. But following a court case with a local construction company, which resulted in the frozen of its accounts, it was then in the absence of the case that the decision was taken to assist it under the FA4JR scheme to pay the worker’s gross salaries.

Though frustrated, the group of workers who had gathered at the Coral Strand Hotel at 8am yesterday managed to keep their calm all along until the meeting ended. Most of their complaints were about difficulties to pay back their loans among other personal activities and the fact also that their taxes and pensions were not paid to relevant authorities even though their pay slips reflected those deductions.

One of the worker’s representatives at the meeting, Margaret Belize, cluster event executive, Savoy, said that though not too happy that their salaries will be delayed further, they are somehow relieved that a decision has been taken for them to get their full salary including payment of their taxes and pensions.

Expressing his disappointment, Mr Robinson strongly insisted that government does take action against the company for mistreating the Seychellois workers given the fact that it was assisted with the money in the FA4JR scheme to pay the workers.

The company is also being charged with failing to pay the wages of its expatriate workers made redundant since May, 2020, and who are still in the country awaiting flights to go home.

 

Patrick Joubert

 
Meeting with Private Sector

The Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status announced on Friday 31st July 2020 that the GOP of all non-Seychellois workers currently stuck overseas as a result of COVID-19 is being revoked with immediate effect.  The decision came as a result of a recent assessment made on the labour market whereby it was found that the number of Seychellois without a job was increasing as the situation of the pandemic continues to persist, whereas openings with organisations for those same Seychellois workers to be able to secure another employment were not forthcoming. 

The decision taken by the Ministry has caused the GOP Framework to be reviewed whereby now employers will require the Minister’s approval before they can return their non-Seychellois employees, which at the time of the announcement had a valid GOP, to the country to work.  Permission to return will be considered if the demand meets certain criteria set that includes whether the skills are available on the labour market, the activity is for a project or services that is of national priority.

The raison d’etre for the review was made public through a Press Conference held by the Ministry with the media on Monday 3rd August 2020 and explained to the private sector as well as workers’ representative the same day at a meeting chaired by Minister Telemaque.  Present for the meeting were:   Mr. Oliver Bastienne representing SCCI, Mr. Jose St Ange representing SHTA, Mrs. Tina Hoareau and Mr. Pierre Quatre representing Union of Employers (GETUS) and Mr. Antoine Robinson representing Workers’ Union (SFWU).

A Committee has also been set up to assist the Minister to assess the merit of the request based on the set criteria’s.

The Committee, named the GOP Assessment Committee held its first meeting on Tuesday 4th August 2020 that was preceded by a short introduction by the Principal Secretary for Employment Mr. Jules Baker who went over the Terms of Reference (ToR) with the members.   The Committee has a Chairperson and the other members are representatives of:-. 

 

Employment Department

Immigration and Civil Status Department,

Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (Sets),

Seychelles Federation of Workers Union (SFWU)

General Employer of Trade Union of Seychelles (GETUS) and

Association of Seychelles Employers

 

The term of office of the Committee is until 31st December 2020 and may be extended if required.

 

The Committee will meet twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday and after each meeting communicate its recommendation on the applications to the Minister, who will in turn convey her decision to the employer in writing. Where required, the Committee will increase the frequency of meetings to ensure clients are given a feedback in the shortest possible time.

 

The Ministry re-affirms its commitment to continue to work together with key partners of the economy for the benefit of both employers and workers.  In this critical time it is important that our people feel that they are being valued and given all opportunities available to limit the effect of the pandemic on their livelihood.

 

Accompanied pictures: Meeting with Private Sector

Minister Telemaque visits Praslin businesses

Minister Telemaque visited businesses on Praslin on 24th July as a follow-up to the meeting held on the island by herself and two other Ministers, Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine and Minister of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, on 19th June that was done to better comprehend their difficulties as a consequence of the COVID 19 situation.    

On the schedule the Minister had planned to visit 9 businesses but managed to do 8 for reasons that the owners or their representatives were not present on site.  The businesses[1] were mainly from the tourism and manufacturing industry.  

All of the businesses visited have kept their workforce until June, with two considering termination of the employment contract of their workers in July if salary assistance from government is not forthcoming.  Most of them have maintained their workers’ full salary despite the businesses not being fully operational but have indicated that they may have to reconsider depending on whether they are assisted or not for the coming months.  Two businesses have not applied for salary assistance stating that their business is not doing too badly for now.   One business had not received feedback for salary assistance request at the time of visit to which the Minister undertook to follow-up with the Ministry of Finance on their behalf.

The follow-up visits will continue during the coming months.

 

[1] Village du Pecheur, Cote d’Or Apartment, La Goulue, Chez Bea, Seaweed Seychelles, Le Rocher Restaurant, UR Car rental, JNL Enterprise and Grand Bleu (owner was absent)

 

 

 

 

The press conference (l to r) Mr Elizabeth, PS Volcère, Minister Telemaque, PS Baker and AG Ally

Merits of all posts to be re-assessed

 

• 1165 requests from 296 organisations received for review

Following the announcement that the GOP of all non-Seychellois nationals currently out of Seychelles have been revoked with immediate effect, a GOP (Gainful Occupation Permit) committee is being set up to re-assess the merits of all posts in the face of new economic realities based on submission of new applications.

The Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Myriam Telemaque, made this announcement during a press conference yesterday. She was accompanied by her two principal secretaries and the Attorney General.

Minister Telemaque explained that the committee will function until December 2020 and they have already worked on its terms of reference.

The committee will hold its first meeting this afternoon.

So far the ministry has received 1165 requests from 296 organisations for the foreign workers to come back in the country and the hope is that the committee will fast track these applications so that everything goes smoothly.

Currently there are still 17,332 foreign workers in our country.

Since March this year, Seychelles has begun to feel the effects of Covid-19 on its economy. The government has taken certain measures swiftly to minimise the impact on our population until now.

Minister Telemaque noted “it is important that Seychellois families do not find themselves in a desperate situation where they do not have the basic means to support their families. Consultations are also being followed and are still being conducted by all sectors of our economy that have been included in the discussion in order to make informed decisions and put in place certain other measures to continue to support our people and rebalance our economy. The decision to revoke the GOP of non-Seychellois outside the country has not been a simple decision. It was a decision made on June 2 with possibility to review it as need be”.

Minister Telemaque noted that after a proper analysis of the labour market, the government found it necessary to review its position on the current GOP holders outside the country.

“In May 2020 we had some 2818 people registered under the Unemployment Relief Scheme and in July there were 4403 people who registered under the scheme. In May and July 48 and 370 Seychellois respectively were made redundant. More than 600 Seychellois have applied for jobs. We also found out that nowadays many of our brothers and sisters are without a permanent job. We have to give hope to them and give them priority in job search. These are the reasons that compelled the government to take such a decision,” explained the minister.

She noted other reasons for that decision is the situation of forex demand that the country cannot afford at this moment.

 

Change in framework

Minister Telemaque noted this does not mean that we do not need foreign workers. Employers who still need their expats who are already in the country can continue to employ them under the conditions stipulated under the framework. Presently there is a GOP framework in place and this will not be affected and employers need to come to immigration to apply for the extension of three months if they want their workers to stay here until their borders are open. There is no fee charge.

PS for Immigration and Civil Status, Alain Volcère, noted that “all new GOP should still be filed at the employment department and each request will be considered thoroughly. This new regulation applies mainly for expats outside the country. For all those who have a valid GOP and are in the country, they can go on holiday and come back and this will not affect them”.

The Attorney General, Frank Ally, explained that under the Immigration Decree, the minister has the power to revoke a GOP. “What happens when a GOP is revoked? The GOP has no validity and we can ask if the contract of employment is still valid. One valid condition for an expat to work in Seychelles is that he/she has to have a valid GOP. We also have to see if these foreign employees still have a valid contract with their employers as they have been out of the country for more than three to four months. There are many of them whose contracts have terminated. There might also be some cases where the employers have sought other legal mechanisms to maintain the contract. They will have to approach the committee with their requests for re-assessment. The revocation is being done in mass and in a force majeure situation.”

 

Industries not affected by this decision

PS for Employment, Jules Baker, explained that industries not affected by this decision are medical, agricultural, fisheries, offshore, financial services such as banks, insurance, public utilities and food security and other exceptions (embassies etc).

“Projects that are of national interests such as the La Gogue Dam, construction of schools and housing also need foreign workers. We already have many people who recently lost their jobs and completed their studies, so every request for GOP will have to be skills that we do not have in Seychelles,” PS Baker explained.

Minister Telemaque concluded the meeting by urging Seychellois to seize the available opportunities and get a permanent employment.

“Do not let these chances pass by and show that Seychellois are hardworking people,” Minister Telemaque said.

The meeting was also attended by the chief immigration officer Michel Elizabeth.

 

Vidya Gappy

 

    Lights

Monday, 03 August 2020 10:16

Prepare for Work’ programme

Ms Dookley addressing guests and participants during the ceremony

31 youths complete training

 

Thirty-one youths in the second cohort of the ‘Prepare for Work’ programme received their certificates on Friday at The Guy Morel Institute after successfully completing their four-month training.

Initiated by the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status in collaboration with The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI) last year, the ‘Prepare for Work’ programme provides the youths with a transformative process and a second chance to be the best of themselves.

It is open to youths, aged between 15 and 35 years, who were unable to get into a post-secondary institution or complete their secondary studies.

The group who graduated on Friday is the first cohort for 2020 but the second cohort since the programme started.

The certificate ceremony was attended by the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque, director general of the employment programme Letimie Dookley and executive director of TGMI Shella Mohideen, as well as the graduates’ parents.

During the ceremony, four outstanding students were also rewarded for their effort and performance.

These were Elicks Rapide who received the ‘best performer’ award, Prishilla Pierre for ‘best effort’, Kelcy Casime for ‘best conduct’ and Nathaniel Cambra for ‘best attendance and punctuality’.

Seventeen-year-old Elicks Rapide explained that the programme’s course helped him a lot to develop his skills for interviews, presentations and computer work.

He is presently interning at a clearing and forwarding agency, and is hoping to further his knowledge through another course.

On her part, 19-year-old Prishilla Pierre received the honour of giving the vote of thanks which she did with much gusto, proving exactly why she received the award for best effort.

“I put a lot of determination and devotion towards the programme and even when I felt discouraged, I kept going forward. I was very active in the classes because the topics were very interesting – I think this is why I won the award,” Ms Pierre stated.

She noted that she was very impressed with ICT course in which she learned a lot.

Although she has yet to decide on a future career, Ms Pierre described her three-month experience at TGMI as transformative and life-changing.

Timothy Sinon, head of the ‘Prepare for Work’ programme, explained that the programme is aimed at transforming youths, not only in regards to academics but also attitude and behaviour wise.

“We had a mix of students in the class. When we started we had some who were de-motivated, some with low self-esteem and others who just came for the sake of it.”

“They were a little tougher than the last cohort and Covid did not help us because we had to cancel classes only two weeks in. But we worked hard together and I’m happy to say that we have had an 80% succession rate. There are only four that we feel needs some work,” Mr Sinon added.

All of the 31 graduates are undertaking an on-the-job training programme after which they enter formal employment.

TGMI and the employment department hope to start similar work with a third cohort although this is yet to be finalised.

Approximately 400 secondary school leavers fail to make it into the different professional centres each year while some exit secondary schools even before completing S5.

‘Prepare for Work’ is their second chance at acquiring skills for the world of work.

 

Elsie Pointe

 
Mrs Payet (right) and Ms Morel during the press conference yesterday

The country’s unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2020 (January to March) was 4.8%, compared to 2.3% for the last quarter of 2019 (October to December), according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Two thousand three hundred and seventy-four (2374) people (including foreigners living in households) have been classified as unemployed for the reporting quarter.

It was Maria Payet, principal statistician (social statistics) at NBS, who made the statement yesterday morning during a briefing with the press at the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status (immigration department) at Independence House on the results of the quarterly labour force survey (Q1 2020), with regard to the labour market statistics.

Also present was Susan Morel, chief policy analyst in the department of employment.

Mrs Payet described the increase in unemployment rate from 2.3% for the last quarter of 2019 to 4.8% for the first quarter of 2020 as “very substantial” given the fact that the unemployment rate had usually stayed below 4% as of 2018.

She claimed that the increase in unemployment during the first quarter of any year usually results from the number of secondary and post-secondary students seeking employment after their studies.

She noted that the unemployment rate for males for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019 was 2.8% and 1.7% for females. As for the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, the unemployment rate for males was 3% and 4.4% for females.

She also noted that it was only in 2018 that the unemployment rate, in a rare case, had reached a 5% increase in the country.

As for the unemployment rate among the youth (15 years old to 24 years old), Mrs Payet noted that it stood at 20.4% for the first quarter of 2020. It is the highest rate ever recorded for the youth sub-group since the start of the quarterly labour force survey in 2014.

She described the situation among the youths as “very alarming”.

With regard to informal unemployment, the rate stood at 15.5 % in the fourth quarter of 2019 rising to 17.3% in the first quarter of 2020.

The most common method of job search in the fourth quarter of 2019 was applying to prospective employers, whereby 57.5% of jobseekers sought jobs using this method. However, a shift was observed for the first quarter of 2020 where registering with employment centres was the most common method for searching for a job. This means that in Q1 2020, fewer people applied for jobs by sending job application forms or CVs directly to workplaces. Instead, more people are registering with the employment department in order to find jobs.

It was also pointed out that the ‘accommodation and food services’ industry had always employed the second highest number of people. However, this trend has now changed in Q1 2020, as it becomes the industry employing the fifth highest number of people.

Speaking on trade union density rate, Mrs Payet said that more people (6.1%) were seeking to join trade unions in the first quarter of 2020 compared to just 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019. She claimed that the results of the second quarterly labour force survey 2020, which will be announced by end of September, will determine the real effect of the coronavirus (Covid-19) on the labour market.

On her part, Ms Morel said that the ministry was expecting this rise in unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2020 as it was the normal trend during that period whereby many secondary and post-secondary students registered with the employment department are in search of a job after their studies.

She noted that with the youth being most affected, the employment department has put in place various policies, programmes (Unemployment Relief Scheme, Skills Development Programme and My First Job) and activities (recruitment fairs) for school leavers among other youths.

She noted that 570 students registered for the ‘My First Job’ programme in the first quarter of 2020 and 260 on the ‘Skills Development Programme’.

 

Patrick Joubert