06/04/2026
😢 😭 😿 😢
In the era of digitisation of almost everything — not forgetting Artificial Intelligence — may my learned colleagues in government HR please explain the need for, and use of, these tedious exercises they continue to put our brothers and sisters through?
I was recently helping a cousin apply for a post at the City of Joburg Certified this and certified that — again. It made me wonder: where exactly are young people expected to get the money to repeatedly print, copy, and certify all these unnecessary documents?
Morero and Loyiso Simphiwe Lugayeni Masuku , do yourselves a favour. Ask your Group HR executive to take just 15 minutes out of their very busy schedules and physically walk you through the process of compiling one demo job application. I would be very interested to hear your views after you’ve gone through that process yourselves.
Now let’s talk about this obsession with certified ID copies and qualifications that must be less than three months old. What is this all about? The logic behind proof of physical address is understandable — people move for various reasons. That makes sense.
But I can assure everyone of one thing: our matric certificates, degrees, and subsequent qualifications do not expire, mutate, or change every three months. They remain exactly the same, if anything people continue studying because they don’t know what to do with this national idle time!
Back to the real issue at hand. Can all the powers that may be in Gauteng please help citizens understand their employment systems and the rationale behind these processes?
Because the problem may not even be the high rate of unemployment. The problem may very well be what it takes to apply for a job, and how much it costs an ordinary South African just to submit an application.
Big ups to the City of Ekurhuleni — your recruitment platform is fully digitised and extremely impressive.
Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, your people are representing you very well in this department.
Cyril Ramaphosa let’s see how good your PR team really is, because I’m literally giving you an opportunity to show the people of South Africa that you do listen to their cries. This entire national employment system can be adjusted and modernised in less than working days with the right IT companies. This is a fact.(I can recommend if you struggle so no excuses) The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa
So let’s see if you great leaders of this country are willing to make it cheaper for people to apply for jobs. Fuel prices have gone up, and in many households people do not have the luxury of printing documents at home or bathing in hotels before interviews.
Gauteng Provincial Legislature
A typical calculation for one job application cycle:
R10 to take a taxi to go and print the required documents.
R5 per page for black-and-white printing, averaging 10 pages = R50.
R20 for lunch, because it can take hours to get documents certified at a police station — I’m exaggerating, but not by much.
R10 taxi fare back home.
Total: R90.
Now multiply that by three months = R270.
Multiply that by four times a year = R1,080.
On average, it takes a person about three years to secure a job.
R1,080 multiplied by three years = R3,240.
This is what it costs an ordinary South African just to apply for jobs.
In my next post, I’ll calculate how much it costs to bathe, get ready, iron clothes, and travel to government interviews that already have names and surnames attached to them — interviews that merely exist to “certify” an appointment process.
Let’s also not forget the price the youth pay with their mental health, constantly attending interviews for positions they clearly qualify for, only to be overlooked because they don’t have “uncle Gwede Mantashe” at Luthuli House.
We will also be waiting for a live demonstration of how long it actually takes to apply for a job on any of these government portals.
I’m coming for the tender submission processes and related systems in my next posts.
I’ll be doing this monthly on various subjects right up until election day in November.
You good people need to be held accountable.
You always talk about having qualified people to run and improve these systems, yet nothing changes. Oh well — here we go, voicing our opinions. Let's see you put your money where your mouths are!
We are not a hopeless country nor are we incapable, we are struggling with incompetent leadership and therefore you are too busy doing door to door campaigns as oppose to fixing the bare minimum!
Pearl Mbewe
Written without prejudice!
Please ignore any typos as this was typed from my phone! 😊
A ke le tshepe lona! 😅😅😅
