Unitrans Learnerships and Graduate Programmes

Written by Thabo MokoenaSenior Education Editor

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

Unitrans, the logistics and passenger transport group owned by KAP Limited, recruits young people into learnerships and graduate programmes through its own e-recruitment portal. The portal sorts these posts into four categories: Driving Learnerships, Administrative Support Learnerships, Operations and Logistics Learnerships, and Graduate Programmes. When we checked on 29 September 2026, all four categories showed zero open posts, and Unitrans does not publish a fixed intake calendar.

What Unitrans says about its learnerships

The Unitrans careers page says the Graduate and Learnership programmes offer “valuable work experience and mentorship” in various fields within the Unitrans business. Two further points on that page matter for anyone waiting on an intake:

• Opportunities are advertised throughout the year as they become available, not in a single annual round.
• Because Unitrans operates nationally, the company says opportunities are offered across all provinces.

Unitrans does not publish general entry requirements, stipend amounts, programme length or the NQF level of its learnerships. Those details belong to each advert, so the only way to see them is to read a post while it is live on the portal.

The four portal categories

The category names on the Unitrans e-recruitment portal show the kind of work each stream leads into. Driving learnerships feed Unitrans’s truck and bus operations; administrative support and operations and logistics learnerships sit on the office and contract side; graduate programmes are for people who already hold a qualification. Unitrans invites applicants to “list your profile today” on the portal, and the portal will not accept an application until that profile is complete.

Unitrans’s own stories give a sense of where these routes can go. A company article from August 2025 describes Mandy Ndlovu, who was the only woman in a learnership group of 30 candidates, learned the realities of truck driving from experienced drivers, later became a bulk vehicle operator and driver trainer, and is now a Training Officer. Another profiles Zamambo Shozi, who joined through a learnership in 2010, took a temporary admin post when it ended and now manages six petroleum contracts.

Driver training inside Unitrans

New drivers at Unitrans go through the company’s UniDrive training. A September 2024 Unitrans article says the curriculum has nine modules: modules 1 to 8 are compulsory for every new driver, and module 9 is for drivers who carry hazardous substances. UniDrive won the “Excellence in Supply Chain Education and Youth Development” award at the first Africa Supply Chain Excellence Awards.

The Owner Driver Programme on the same careers page is not an entry-level scheme. It helps experienced drivers build towards owning a truck over five to six years, and it asks for a valid ultra heavy licence, at least five years of linehaul experience, a clear credit record and a clear criminal record.

Scale of learnership spending across KAP

KAP’s 2025 Integrated Report gives group-wide figures rather than a Unitrans-only count. Across all KAP divisions, internships, learnerships and apprenticeships cost R63 million in the 2025 financial year (R66 million the year before), offered to employees and unemployed learners. The report adds that 277 of its learnerships were held by people with disabilities, and that learnership and graduate placement programmes build junior skills that are “typically absorbed” into the divisions on completion.

Applying without being scammed

Unitrans warns about fake recruitment on its careers page. Its stated rules are clear:

• Applications go only through the Unitrans website and career portal, never WhatsApp or phone calls.
• No fee is charged for applications, background checks or assessments, and no bank card or CVV number is ever requested.
• Offers are made only after a formal interview, held in person at a Unitrans office or depot or online through a Unitrans platform.
• Genuine contact comes from official Unitrans HR email addresses; suspicious approaches can be reported to the KAPREF report hotline.

For other routes into transport and supply chain work, see our logistics and supply chain bursaries, the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) profile, which covers the sector’s SETA, and the Transnet learnership page.

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