SA Affordable Housing January / February 2017 // Issue: 62 | Page 12

NEWS Bricklaying courses uplift community In partnership with Ethekwini Municipality, Corobrik hosted a graduation ceremony for 30 previously disadvantaged individuals who successfully completed a bricklaying course at Corobrik’s Avoca training centre last year. Six students were awarded certificates for outstanding performance, from left: Derek Dimba (trainer), Siboniso Mchunu, Jerome Masinga, Brilliant Mkhonza, Nobuhle Mncube, Senzo Sithole and Nokuthula Ndlovu. Image: Corobrik T he conference hall at Durban’s popular Botanic Gardens was the setting for the joyful occasion on 19 September as 30 students were presented with certificates as successful graduates of the bricklaying course facilitated by Corobrik. The nine-week bricklaying course the students completed is one that Corobrik is no stranger in conducting. Corobrik currently has three bricklayer training centres which provide Construction, Education and Training Authority (CETA) accredited certifications in the 10 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2017 AFFORDABLE SA HOUSING craft. These centres are not for profit and purely serve to benefit the community and provide a skill to previously unskilled members of society. Not only this but the centres, located in Durban, Gauteng and the Western Cape, provide training that is essential to South Africa’s construction industry. Berkley Petty, human resources development manager at Corobrik, explains, “Bricklaying is a scarce skill. Part of why we run these courses at our training centres is to ensure that there are bricklayers in the future.”