Vhembe TVET College celebrates 60 years

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Mr Buti Manamela, has called on the management of the Vhembe TVET College to work hard in keeping standards high, so that it remains a centre of skills development and production, to help in creating jobs.

Manamela was addressing hundreds of people who had gathered at the Vhembe TVET College’s main hall on Friday, 31 March, to celebrate the college’s 60^th birthday. He was joined by the executive mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Dowelani Nenguda, several traditional leaders and academics.

“The Vhembe TVET College should not consistently demonstrate only how your academic programmes are geared towards addressing the needs of the community around the college, but also how the various strategic partnerships you enter into are deliberately geared towards addressing the needs of the people in the Vhembe District. This is particularly important, given the unique location of this college in a region that shares borders with Zimbabwe in the north, Botswana in the north-west, and Mozambique in the south-east through [the] Kruger National Park,” he said.

Manamela said that for the institution to attain 60 years was a major milestone and the college should take time to reflect on its evolution since its inception. “We have recently allocated over R2, 88 billion for the development and refurbishment of new TVET campuses that will enable the expansion of our PSET sector. As it relates to infrastructure development in our TVET Colleges here in Limpopo, we have completed the construction of the Sekhukhune Skills Development Centre to the value of R146,9 million,” added Manamela.

The principal of the Vhembe TVET College, Ms Basane Hlekane, said that when the college had been established in 1963, its name had been Finyanzwanda. “Now we are celebrating 60 years of existence. This college is not still standing by accident. Hard work is what put us where we are today, and that is what we are celebrating,” she said.

Date:08 April 2023

By: Silas Nduvheni

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