By Nangamso Mabindla
8 May 2008

THE skills shortage is hampering the delivery of services, leading Buffalo City actively to encourage learners to consider careers in industries particularly in need of skills.

The City's core business is service delivery and it is responsible for health, public safety and urban planning. It also delivers services such as electricity, water, sanitation, road construction and amenities.

However, the lack of skills in some of these areas makes it difficult for the municipality to deliver on its mandate effectively. In response to this challenge, the City's human resources department decided to visit local schools and discuss these scarce skills with learners.

They will be encouraged to study towards professions such as electrical and civil engineering, architecture, environmental health and land surveying. The City's general manager of communications, Ondela Mahlangu, said that on Thursday, 8 May the City would visit Cambridge High School.

"This school [is] having its careers day today, and it invited the municipality to market the City as a preferred place for employment. So we will be showing them the areas of scarce skills in Buffalo City so that the learners are encouraged to pursue these careers."

Visits are planned to more schools in July. "We will also focus on previously disadvantaged schools, marketing the municipality there as well. We want the learners to know what kinds of skills are needed in Buffalo City. Most of the skills we want need learners to have maths and science."

There is also a scarcity of accountants, City valuers, artisans, draughtsmen, pharmacists, professional nurses and environmental health practitioners.