Media Release: GRDM Municipal Manager and officials welcome interns to the organisation

For immediate release
24 March 2023

Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Municipal Manager, Monde Stratu, and officials (mentors) recently welcomed seventeen (17) interns from various training institutions to the Municipality’s offices in George.

Eleven (11) students studied at the South Cape College, three students are from Stenden University, two are from the Uconomy Platform and one student is from CHIETA Sponsored.

With each student now gaining practical experience at the organisation, they are exposed to various fields, such as Human Resources, Communication, Resorts, Record and Archives, Disaster Management, to name a few. The role of GRDM is to provide them with guidance in notable areas of shortcomings and coach/mentor these students in their field of study. They will be provided practical training on a rotational basis throughout the organisation during their period of their internship. The Public Management students will be placed at Registration, Archives and Auxiliary Services until their contracts expire.

The role of their mentors/supervisors is to ensure that the students keep a record of what tasks they have completed. This information will be contained in a Portfolio of Evidence (POE). The document must be signed off by their mentors/supervisors and final approval will be given by the Head of Department on completion of the experiential training. At the end of their tenure, each student will submit their approved document to their respective training institutions.

In total, R966 000 in stipends will be paid to the interns by the National Skills Fund, Bankseta, CHIETA or Uconomy Platforms over the 18-month period. From this amount, GRDM will partially cover the cost of almost R85 000 for students from Stenden University. These students study in the field of Disaster Management and are placed at the municipality’s district Disaster Management Centre in George.

Garden Route District Municipality is committed to contributing to the success of each student who is part of the programme and who shows dedication for the entire eighteen (18) month period. Providing students with workplace experience will ultimately prepare them to be ready for the job market.

Caption: Interns (with mentors) currently undergoing experiential training at Garden Route District Municipality.

ENDS