A technical trainer of twenty-two years, Lee de Sousa started his career as an apprentice at Lindsay Saker. From there, Lee worked for the likes of Audi and Audi & VW when they were one entity. When the two brands were separated, Lee enjoyed various roles within Audi. From being a Motor Mechanic, Foreman, Service Advisor and then a service manager. Eventually, an opportunity within the training division came up where Lee says he discovered his passion.
Today, Lee is the academy manager at Motus Technical Academy in Wadeville where four motor vehicle repair trades are offered; Diesel mechanic, Auto electrical, Automotive Body Repair and Spray painting.
To start off, what testing does Motus Technical Academy offer?
Motus Technical Academy has their accredited trade test (TTC) and they test internal learners, as well as external ones, for Diesel mechanic, Motor mechanic, Motorcycle and Scooter mechanic, Auto-electrical, Automotive Body Repair and Spray Painting. They extend their services to include ARPL (Artisan Recognition of Prior Learning), Learnerships, Skills Program, Short courses and Technical for non-technical.
Where can course applicants complete their training with Motus?
Motus Technical Academy has four training centres;
- Wadeville – Diesel Mechanic, Auto electrical, Spray Painting
Automotive Body Repair - Germiston – Motor mechanic, Motorcycle
- Bloemfontein – Auto electrical, Diesel and Motor mechanic
- Cape Town – Diesel Mechanic, Auto electrical, Motor mechanic
And, how does Motus monitor and assist Learners?
Our friendly business development managers, Zoe Burton, Nishma Deeplall, Jose Vicente go out to the learner’s workplace to inspect their Portfolio of Evidence files, address any lack of workshop exposure, discuss challenges the learners are facing in training and offer support to close the gaps (in theory and practical) and to check that the apprentice contract is valid.
What Motor Body Repair and Spray Paint training is available, and where?
The Wadeville and Cape Town campuses have their own trade test centres with
accreditation to test all of the before-mentioned trades.
Is there anything new being offered at Motus Technical Academy?
Yes, we have been accredited for training and testing for the vehicle damage quantifier! This is a new qualification that offers many people in the industry (panel beating/ spray painting) training to inspect vehicles for assessing damaging and quoting. When insurance assessors go to the panel beating shops to authorise claims, the knowledge they get from the VDQ qualification gives them many benefits in terms of upskilling.
Specifically, which courses do you offer and what is involved?
Motus Technical Academy offers technical training courses in the automotive industry. This includes apprenticeships, Learnerships skills programmes, short courses and Apprentice Prior Learning (ARPL) – which replaces section 298, diesel mechanic, petrol mechanic, spray
painting and panel beating.
Do the workshops employing the applicant need to fulfil any requirements?
If the programme is credit-bearing, then the workshop that the applicant is working at must be accredited by merSETA, in order to be awarded those credits.
Where the workshop is not merSETA accredited, that is where the short courses come in. There are short courses being offered in Diesel mechanic training, panel beating, ARPL (a tool kit that is in place for candidates with a lot of workshop experience, but no prior learning or formal training).
Motus will evaluate each applicant and their knowledge base before proceeding to a trade test.
Part 2 of this interview will be published, soon. Check back here and for more on Apprenticeships and Trade Testing, visit our Apprenticeships page, here.
