Sowetan reports that Nqobile Majola is one of 19 deaf students completing a gruelling coding course that will allow them to secure work after battling to find jobs.  The 26-year-old from Pietermaritzburg is one of the top students in their first-ever coding class.  

The computer programming course is designed specifically to cater for the needs of deaf people by placing them in jobs after completion.  The course is being provided by the Soweto-based Deaf Empowerment Firm (DEF) to teach the youth valuable computer programming skills that are in high demand in the IT industry.  DEF founder Sikelelwa Msitshana said she had also battled to find employment after becoming deaf and this had opened her eyes to the challenges deaf people faced.  “I had a thriving career in corporate development before I fell sick.  No one would hire me after I became deaf.  I knew that deaf people were just as capable of doing the work that hearing people can do,” Msitshana said.  According to the SA Human Rights Commission, eight out of 10 people with disabilities are unemployed.

• Read more of this Sowetan report by Karabo Ledwaba at SA Labour News

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