The Central Competent Centre (CCC) in the heart of Bloemfontein offers the opportunity to owners of ABR establishments to not only determine the competency level of existing unqualified staff performing panel beating and spray-painting function at the workplace, but to in conjunction with the enrolled apprentice elect this merSETA accredited decentralised trade test centre to, following completion of the apprentice levels, perform the trade test.
The CCC is the brainchild of Willie Kruger who has more than 50 years panel beating and spray-painting experience. Willie’s Tannery Beaters in Bloemfontein was identified in 1991 By VWSA and became the 2nd manufacturer approved repairer in the Country.
At the time of establishing the Training Centre (then known as Central Refinish Training Centre) the ABR fraternity was experiencing a skills crisis. This crisis mainly came about from resistance of ABR to enrol apprentices as they did not realise the advantages of training in a formal and structured manner. The Training Centre also performs assessments as many ABR establishments’ owners or managers wish to firstly determine the competency level of an employee prior to commence with a trade test application, provided for by the merSETA, based on relevant workplace experience and completed secondary education i.e. N2 or equivalent school subjects passed.
In support of training
The skills crisis in the ABR fraternity has over the years, from the establishment of the Training Centre, became even more relevant in both the ABR and spay-painting trades. The merSETA approach has changed over the years and for example the allocation of a discretionary grant is today exactly what the word ‘discretionary’ means in that the application from the employer will be processed and at the discretion of the merSETA approved. The merSETA has always been in support of training by small employers and many establishments have reaped the benefits and still get allocated discretionary grants.
The Government with the National Strategic Growth Plan is determined to qualify as many tradesmen and – women. This resulted in initially SARS rebates and from January 2014 the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) scheme. The SARS rebate (IT 180) has as main criteria enrolled apprentice and employer details. The ETI promotes youth employment (anyone between 18 and 29 years old and employed after 1/10/2013) amongst employers. The ETI allows employers to ‘save’ up to 50% of salary of anyone employed in the 18 to 29 years old age bracket. Employers are allowed to ‘double dip’ hence make use of both the SARS rebate and the ETI.
Training at the CCC is offered on the latest technology equipment and paints. Learners are privileged in that both Willie with his 50 years’ experience and well qualified spray painting facilitator are everyday at hand to assist and offer solutions to challenges. This facility is situated on the Dr Böhmer School premises, Corner Brink & Haldon Roads, Universitas, Bloemfontein. The contact telephone numbers are 051-5252539 and 5222771. The Training Centre has a valid B-BBEE certificate. This Training Centre recently transformed into a 60% black ownership establishment.
Caters for mild learning difficulty learners
As part of the CCC’s local community responsibility program a total number of 87 learners from the Dr Böhmer School, which caters for mild learning difficulty learners, have been exposed to various training programs. From these learners the latest to qualify as fully fledged and qualified spray painter is Jason Peterson. Jason confirmed that the opportunity that was offered to him changed his future prospects totally. This opportunity allowed him to learn the trade and be exposed to the repair of vehicles that he so loves. The total cost of Jason’s training and qualification were born by Willie Kruger.
The CCC runs training programs for BASF as well as Telesure. The BASF learners are trained as spray painters and many will become paint technicians at this global company. The Telesure learners are trained to become vehicle assessors. The Training Centre is also accredited for the welding trade. Employers with staff training needs can arrange short as well as longer basic and more advanced welding courses.