Transnet enters into agreement with two local universities

The Transnet Academy has partnered with the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Town to offer skills development and training opportunities for the parastatal's engineers' technicians. The partnership is expected to span five years. Transnet Group Chief of People Management and Learning, Tumi Matsheka said: 'By addressing skills deficiencies, enhancing employee productivity and fostering a culture of continuous learning, Transnet is taking decisive steps to build a more capable and engaged workforce, thus providing the necessary support to the Transnet Recovery Plan.' In his weekly newsletter in August, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: 'Transnet's recovery plan is showing progress, with the private sector providing significant technical support and resources to Transnet Freight Rail and Port Terminals. In a statement on Tuesday, Transnet said that the move will assist the company 'with enhanced technical capacity, reliable safety standards and superior customer service delivery'. 'The agreement, which unde rscores Transnet's commitment to skills development to improve productivity, quality, and competitiveness, aligns with the Transnet Academy's objective of improving the development and training levels of South Africans and creating long-term socio-economic growth and prosperity,' the statement read. Furthermore, the State-owned Company (SOC) explained that through the partnership, the Transnet Academy's Faculty of Rail will 'offer accredited training programmes in Railway Engineering, Operations, Projects, Occurrence Investigation, and Safety-related courses'. 'This will enable Transnet's Engineers and Technicians to attain and maintain their professional registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and it will also improve safety performance as well as the essential rail network infrastructure maintenance skills. 'As part of the agreement, the University of Pretoria has thus far conducted seven independent investigations on level 1 and 2 incidents to determine trends and recommend solu tions to augment the current controls for Transnet Freight Rail. 'The relationship with the University has seen 3 307 Transnet employees graduating from the rail Occurrence Investigation Programme (ROIP) since the inception of the programme in 2013. This partnership will further amplify the number of employees qualified in this respect,' the statement read. Source: South African Government News Agency