How do we address youth unemployment while ensuring the automotive sector has the skills needed to keep South Africa’s automotive industry moving?
The question is becoming increasingly urgent.
According to Statistics South Africa’s Q1 2025 Quarterly Labour Force Survey, unemployment among young South Africans aged 15-34 rose to 46.1%, with young women continuing to face even greater barriers to entering technical and traditionally male-dominated industries.
At the same time, the automotive sector is evolving fast. Modern vehicles are increasingly reliant on advanced diagnostics, electronics and connected technologies, creating growing demand for technicians with far more than mechanical skills alone.
For township-based training and service centre, Kgabo Cars, the solution starts on the workshop floor, bringing technical skills and real-world experience directly into communities where unemployment is high and opportunities are scarce.
Founded by master artisan and educator, Dr Isaac Boshomane, Kgabo Cars has become a powerful example of how grassroots skills development can create real pathways to employment, entrepreneurship and economic inclusion, while proving that township workshops can play a far bigger role in shaping the future of South Africa’s automotive economy. What started out as a township workshop in 2001 soon evolved into an artisan development and training hub, offering a three-year programme designed to bridge the gap between technical education and real-world workshop experience.
“I grew up in a small area in Limpopo and always loved cars,” says Boshomane.
“When I saw the way some backyard mechanics treated customers’ vehicles, Though there was no car at home, I told myself that I am going to have a car, but my car is not going to these people.
“That’s when I decided I would become a mechanic.”
After qualifying as an artisan and spending seven years at Toyota, Boshomane moved into technical education, teaching at a technical high school and later at the Pretoria West College of Engineering, where his students consistently achieved some of the institution’s highest pass rates. But his bigger vision was always to prove that townships could produce world-class artisans.
“I believed township communities could produce highly skilled artisans if they were given proper opportunities, infrastructure and support,” says Boshomane.
More than two decades later, Kgabo Cars is proving his instincts right. Since 2004, the Soshanguve-based workshop has trained more than 300 young people and produced 195 nationally certified Automotive Motor Mechanic artisans, including five learners from Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSEN) schools, who may otherwise never have accessed any formal artisan training opportunities.
The programme is also helping to address gender stereotypes within the automotive industry. Of the qualified artisans produced through Kgabo Cars, 60 are women.
“At the beginning, customers would ask, ‘Are you sure you can fix this car?’” recalls Ofentse Ledingoane, a current qualified female artisan apprentice at Kgabo Cars who, through the workshop’s support, started her own small mechanic business, having attended New Venture Creation level 4.
“But over time, people started understanding that women can choose any career they want.”
Creating opportunities at this scale requires more than vision alone. It requires industry partners willing to invest in the next generation of artisans long before the return is guaranteed. For Lightstone Auto, supporting initiatives like Kgabo Cars is about more than just sponsorship, it’s about investing in the long-term future of South Africa’s automotive industry.
“We believe the future of the automotive industry depends on the people entering it today,” says Paul Marshall, Managing Director at Lightstone Auto.
“Kgabo Cars is not only developing technical skills, but also building confidence, dignity and long-term career opportunities within communities. For Lightstone Auto, supporting the industry means more than providing data and sharing insights. It means investing in the people who keep South Africa moving.”
Since 2019, Lightstone Auto has sponsored eight learners to go through Kgabo Cars’ three-year programme, helping young candidates (to become artisans) access the practical experience and mentorship needed to qualify as artisans, find employment and eventually build businesses of their own. The partnership also aligns with Lightstone Auto’s broader commitment to strengthening the automotive talent pipeline. Alongside initiatives like Kgabo Cars, the company’s Star Reacher Awards recognise F&I excellence across the industry.
As South Africa’s skills and employment challenges intensify, township automotive businesses are becoming increasingly important within the country’s mobility ecosystem. Once viewed as informal repair operations, many township workshops are evolving into credible small businesses that support local mobility, entrepreneurship, skills transfer and employment. It is here that Kgabo Cars plays a critical role, helping young people access new employment pathways, while supporting the future of South Africa’s automotive ecosystem.
“We are seeing strong growth within township automotive economies, where entrepreneurship, innovation and community-based business models are creating new opportunities,” says van Staden.
“These businesses are not only supporting local economies but also creating employment and skills development within underserved communities.”
Industry bodies are also taking note. The Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) has identified Township Automotive Hubs as important platforms for supporting small businesses, technical training and greater inclusion within the automotive value chain. For Boshomane, however, the mission remains deeply personal. Growing up in Limpopo, he once dreamed of owning a car one day. Today, he is helping hundreds of young South Africans build careers around cars.
“Where you come from does not determine where you are going,” he reminds us. In a country searching for scalable solutions to youth unemployment, Kgabo Cars offers something increasingly rare – a model that connects skills development, economic inclusion and industry relevance in one place. And as South Africa’s automotive sector faces growing pressure to develop future-ready technical talent, the solution may not rest solely with large institutions or formal training colleges, but inside township workshops already proving what is possible.
