Qualified artisan numbers in the Technical Service Corps (TSC) of the SA Army are 96 stronger following a graduation ceremony where trade certificates were presented to those who made the grade.
The men and women now properly qualified to wear the black beret and its lightning bolt/prancing horse badge put in the classroom brainwork alongside the practical between 2016 and 2022.
Trade certificates for armourers, “refrigerators”, auto electricians and diesel mechanics were presented by Acting Chief Army Force Structure Brigadier General BC Motlhoki. Forty-one recipients were on hand to collect their certificates from the one-star at Thaba Tshwane town hall with the remaining 55 not able to attend because of work commitments.
Artisan training, according to Colonel KD Zangqa, Officer Commanding the SA Army Technical Training Centre, started for those selected on completion of two years military skills development (MSD) training. Apprentice training is split between 12 months in classrooms and workshops, most at the Tshwane South College in Centurion, and 18 to 24 months on-the-job training in SA Army workshops.
Apprentice training culminates in successful completion of the trade test in which personnel reclassified as artisans and placed in different SA Army units according to their trades. “This implies the first five years of a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the TSC is about development,” Zangqa is reported as saying by Lieutenant D Matlakala Acting Staff Officer 3, Apprentice Training, SA Army Technical Training Centre.
