Re-opening of Sapref training centre
“our drive will be to continue funding skills development and investing in this facility, even during the park period while the refinery is down."
SOUTH African Petroleum Refineries (Sapref) recently re-opened its Durban South Training Centre run by Durban South Training Trust (DSTT) at a new premises with bigger facilities, located at 50 Prospecton Road, Isipingo.
“When the DSTT premises were looted and vandalised during the July unrest, we made a promise to ourselves that we will not let this act deter us from our mission. At Sapref, safety is our number one priority and skills development, our passion.
ALSO READ: Sapref halts production in Prospecton
Our skills development motto is ‘we grow our people’. We are opening this centre as a recommitment to growing the skills pipeline,” said Victor Bester, managing director of Sapref.
Sapref has 302 learners in the 2022 talent pipeline, 122 of which form part of the various skills development programmes offered by the Prospecton-based refinery.
These learners will go through a learnership that covers national qualifications framework (NQF) level two to four. In each level, they spend six months acquiring theoretical knowledge at the centre and the other six months with host companies for practical experiential learning.
Currently there are thirty Grade 11 and 12 learners in the Sapref schools pipeline programme, aimed at identifying learners with potential at school level and exposing them to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) opportunities by giving them full bursaries to study mechanical, chemical or electrical engineering through university, as a means of rebuilding skills within South Africa as opposed to outsourcing them from other countries.
According to Bester, the DSTT forms part of the broader social responsibility initiatives that the organisation has, to empower the community through education.
In his keynote address, after a tour through the new premises, MEC for Basic Education in KwaZulu-Natal, Kwazi Mshengu, commended the work that Sapref is doing in the skills development space and said, “This initiative is in line with the national Development Plan to produce 30 000 artisans by 2030.”
Although Sapref, the largest crude oil refinery in Southern Africa, has put a pause on production, “our drive will be to continue funding skills development and continue to invest in this facility even during the park period while the refinery is down.
We will continue to have learnerships and internships,” said Bester.
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