The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies will award certificates to graduates who have successfully completed the Itukise-Internship for Unemployed Graduates Programme at an awards ceremony that will be held at the dti Campus in Pretoria tomorrow.

According to Minister Davies, the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) developed the Itukise Programme to provide unemployed graduates with an opportunity to gain work experience that will enable them to be marketable in the labour market.

“The Itukise Internship Programme provides much-needed work experience through a twelve- month internship in entities receiving financial and non-financial support from the dti,” says Minister Davies.

In August 2013, the dti signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Skills Fund (NSF) of the Department of Higher Education and Training to the value of R71, 864,648 over a two-year period for the implementation of the Itukise Programme.

Minister Davies adds that the funds provided by the NSF enabled 1 426 interns and in-service trainees to be placed in the programme by the end of March 2015 in 169 entities across nine provinces.

“We anticipate that a significant number of the remaining 600 interns that are completing the 12 months practical training programme by end of March 2016 will be absorbed by the host entities,” explains Minister Davies.

The Itukise Programme was launched at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town on 4 March 2014. 


Issued by The Department of Trade and Industry