30 July 2007
The Legal existence of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas)
would never be tampered with until their mandate expires in 2010 as per the
law, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said today (Monday). He was
addressing a group of Isett Seta graduates at a graduation ceremony at the Wits
University, Johannesburg.
The Minister's remarks came in the wake of recent media claims that about 19
Seta chief executives were about to lose their jobs due to a planned mass
closure of their various Setas.
"Legally, Setas have a life up to 2010, and therefore whatever you do has to
take into account that both these institutions and their workers have legal
contracts that have to be respected," he said.
Minister Mdladlana said that while this was the case, there remained a need
to review the way some of the Setas were structured, resulting in duplication
of responsibilities, this would not result in the dissolution of Setas as
suggested in the media.
"We should bear in mind that at the time we were establishing Setas, there
was no industrial strategy in South Africa. Now that we have an industrial
strategy, Setas have to align their strategies to the national policy. The
question we need to ask ourselves is whether we need five Setas in one sector,"
the Minister said.
He cited the example of security and finance sectors which have up to three
and five Setas respectively.
The Minister commended the partnership of Jonda and the Isett Seta, under
whose auspices the Information Technology learners received training when the
project was incepted in 2004. Already 130 of the total 183 students have been
placed for permanent employment in various public and private sector
bodies.
Zolisa Sigabi
Spokesperson
Tel: 012 392 9635
Fax: 012 320 6084
Cell: 082 906 3878
E-mail: zolisa.sigabi@labour.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Labour
30 July 2007
