Bug in state-private digital training partnership

The Gauteng department of e-government has instituted a forensic investigation into private companies it partnered with to send 50 young people to Germany as artificial intelligence interns, after identifying problems within the programme.

The department entered into a partnership with Ntsumi Telecommunications, Liaport Africa and IBA Global Training in response to the acute shortage of skills in the ICT sector, as well as youth unemployment, spokesper- son John Sukazi said.

He said these companies and the National Youth Development Agency had approached the department stating they were looking for 50 ambitious and proactive interns who would be trained in artificial intelligence, semantic texting and robotics.

“The department has a number of partnerships with the private sector that seek to accelerate the attainment of digital skills among young people in the province and it was in this context that an agreement was entered into,” said Sukazi.

“As soon as the department picked up that there were problems with the programme, which resulted in the interns returning to South Africa, it instituted a forensic investigation into whether there was fraudulent intent on the part of the companies it had partnered with.”

He said that on returning to South Africa, the students were enrolled in a proper training programme, and after completing this year-long internship would be offered contracts for another 12 months ending on July 31, 2019.

Should the forensic investigation reveal malpractice, the department would lay criminal charges against the companies, Gauteng member of the executive committee for e-government Barbara Creecy said.

She warned private companies against taking advantage of desperate young people struggling to find employment. – ANA – ANA