Q Mahlangu: Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
(AsgiSA) conference

31 July 2007

Distinguished guests
Representatives from government departments
Representatives from parastatals
Ladies and gentlemen

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing me this
great honour of standing before you today to speak to you about Accelerated
Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and the role of the Gauteng
Local government in this national endeavour.

AsgiSA and local government

AsgiSA is a programme which was initiated on National Level of government,
but it still has direct bearing on what happens at local level, due to this
being the centre of service delivery to communities.

Skills programmes and learnerships became the order of the day, replacing
apprenticeships. Unfortunately, this did not go as smoothly and well as had
been anticipated, due to certain factors. Firstly, there has been a delay in
the implementation of the learnerships; there was restructured content together
with a lack of quality control which leads to many practitioners not being able
to deal with the complex requirements of the new system. This also had an
impact on the operating and maintaining of municipal infrastructure.

Due to municipalities facing current growth increases and demands for
municipal skills and infrastructure, it was realised that more traditionally
trained artisans are required in local government. Therefore, plans are being
put in place to increase the number of registered artisans on an annual
basis.

To ensure that artisans receive suitable and adequate new and updated
skills, the training process for artisans needs to be hands on training in
training centres and/or trade schools together with workplace training under
the guidance of a registered artisan/journeyman.

Why the focus on local government?

The core function of local government is that of service delivery to people
and communities. Without services like water and electricity, there is very
little chance of communities being able to function at all. Service delivery
does not only mean the supplying of new infrastructure which is generally
designed and constructed to municipal specifications by private sector. It also
means the operating and maintaining of existing structures, which should fall
under that of municipal maintenance.

Specific skills that are required are:

* heavy current electricians: to keep the distribution and transmission
systems operational
* water servicemen and plumbers: to keep the water and sanitation networks in
working order
* fitters and tuners, millwrights, welders, water care workers and process
controllers: to operate and maintain treatment works
* carpenters and bricklayers: to work as handymen and maintain municipal
properties and handle shuttering, concrete and brickwork where needed such as
culverts, drains and manholes
* mechanics, machine operators and drivers: to keep fleets operational and
address waste and solid waste collection, road construction and maintenance,
electricity maintenance etc.

To service local government, an adequate supply of appropriate qualified
artisans and semi-skilled workers are needed. There are unfortunately problems
in this regard. They are as follows:

* Vacancies

Vacancies in municipalities are reported to be in the region of 34%, with
the three highest vacancy categories being instrument mechanic, millwright and
painters (all in the 60% range). Due to budget constraints and the inability to
attract artisans into local government, many posts have been frozen and have
been removed from municipal organograms, implying that the skills are
needed.

Another factor which needs to be taken into account was the route of
promotion for artisan, which used to be to foremen and superintendent. With the
reduction in artisan numbers, these managerial posts remain largely unfilled,
or tend to be filled by inexperienced or inappropriately qualified staff, which
in turn is detriment to the sustainability of service delivery.

Other factors that contribute to these vacancies are:

* Budget constraints: The limit of 32% of income is allowed to be spent on
salaries in local government. This means that many municipalities cannot afford
to employ sufficient technical staff. Municipalities need to realise that even
though they might be managing on saving money when it comes to salaries, they
might be building up repair bills which far exceed the cost of training and
hiring artisans, as infrastructure is not maintained and prematurely reaches
the end of its functional line.
* Salaries: The salary scales for most artisans in local government are below
the levels which they would receive in the private sector, making it more
difficult to attract artisans with the necessary skills and knowledge into
local government.
* National shortages: The reduction in artisan training over the last 20 years
has resulted in a national shortage which reduces the number available to enter
local government.

Training approach

After demarcation this became known as learnerships. To give a brief
overview of the difference between the two aspects, some of the fundamental
differences are listed.

* With artisan training, standard content was delivered nationally, whereas
with learnerships, each service provider has to develop their own course.
* With artisan training, courses of set duration were delivered through
nationally controlled institutions whereas with learnerships, once courses are
accredited, there is little or no checking on whether the courses are being
followed, and many service providers reduce training to a minimum to get more
learners in and make more money.
* With artisan training, lecturers were required to have at least the
qualification in which they were training and a set number of years experience
Currently with learnership, lecturers and assessors are assessed on a portfolio
of evidence and often those considering these submissions are not qualified to
judge. There have been cases of medical doctors teaching bricklaying etc.
* With artisan training, practical experience was gained in institutions so
apprentices could carry out basic tasks. Currently, al practical experience is
the responsibility of the employer.
* Apprenticeships were done in the workplace under a qualified artisan, whereas
with learnerships there is no such requirement.
* The duration of artisan training was adequate to achieve most, if not all, of
the competencies. With learnerships, courses are often very short with a
minimal amount of theory being covered before a learner gets to site.
* With artisan training, qualifications were only rewarded after all theory;
practical training and examinations were completed and passed. Nowadays,
certificates are issues after achieving each unit standard or semester. Few
learners complete all the units to develop skills comparable with artisans, but
they have certification to indicate that they have developed skills in the
field. The industry has found many of these to be inadequate to the practical
work that is required to conduct a job.
* With artisan training, standard national tests with experienced artisans as
examiners were used, testing was very strict, and this led to the industry
knowing what to expect when someone qualified as an artisan. With learnerships,
certificates are issued too easily and competence levels are not well
understood by industry and are over sold by the learner.

It therefore becomes clear that more effort needs to be expended to improve
the quality and control of the learnership route for skills training, and that
the old apprenticeship model, albeit with updated material needs to be
reintroduced.

This leads us to another hiccup in the process of training artisans, the
demise of training programmes of the past.

Training centres

Before the municipal demarcation took place prior to 2000, approximately 18
municipalities had Municipal Training Centres which were governed by the Local
government Training Board and received their funding from municipalities, with
some funding coming from the board. However, after the demarcation, some of the
training centres were disestablished. This disestablishment of training venues
therefore make it difficult for skills development (in line with AsgiSA) to
take place.

A few training centres are still in existence and should therefore be used
to their full advantage. These centres must be funded in order for them to
increase their capacity, together with funding those which have been
disestablished. The centres which are still functioning in Gauteng are:

* Randfontein
* Ekurhuleni

Sector Education and Training Authority (Setas)

With the birth of Seta, the responsibility of training was transferred from
employer bodies to appointed service providers. While the new system was in the
process of being designed, little or no training took place in any form. This
leads to the marked drop in artisan registrations after 2000.

A new process was adopted, namely that of Learnerships, which allowed
stepwise qualifications, but demanded that all practical training take place in
the working environment at the workplace. The problem with this was that few
municipalities had the needed capacity to offer practical training from
scratch, which meant that only a limited number of workers were taken on
board.

The economy

A trend that became the norm over the last few years was that of
'downsizing', where municipalities and organisations would only ensure they
retain their high level employees who were seen as the most productive and with
highly experienced. In response to this, some training centres had to be closed
down due to a lack of demand.

Training of artisans by local government institutions

At present, the key responsibility of local government with regards to
artisan training heavy current electricians and water servicemen, training an
additional 1 600 of both these professions over the next three to five
years.

At present, around 300 artisans are being trained at municipal training
centres on an annual basis. Local Government Sector Education and Training
Authority (LGSETA) has however set itself the target of increasing this number
by 1 200, therefore training 1 500 per annum.

Initially, an intake of 500 artisans will be considered. Although this might
sound like a high enough number, there are several factors which one must take
into consideration that might affect this total number negatively. The losses
of these numbers can be attributed to:

* artisans retiring soon (at least 3 to 4% will retire per annum for the
next 10 years
* leaving government employment due to low salaries, difficult working
conditions
* retire due to medical reasons (death or sickness)

Therefore it is clear that expanded training is essential to develop and
extend the pool of skills needed. This in turn would be an invaluable
investment into the future and wellbeing of local government in terms of
development, operations and maintenance.

Supervision and workplace coaching/training

An urgent need which has been identified is the need for coaches to aid in
supervising apprentices to develop workplace skills. The reason for this is
that over time, the availability of dedicated experienced artisans is
diminishing rapidly and unless the coaching role is seen as a specific job
requirement, identified and rewarded accordingly, the skills transfer process
will be jeopardised.

A database needs to be compiled of all retired artisans who are available to
give up their time to become coaches, and possibly also mentors where that is
necessary. This will allow local government to access the right people for them
to instil appropriate skills for knowledge coaching.

Experiential training

One of the big challenges when it comes to skills development and employment
placing is that graduates are not equipped with workplace experience. Estimates
suggest that there are thousands of students that, on a yearly basis, cannot
graduate as they are unable to secure the necessary placements. This, in turn
deprives the economy of highly-trained graduates, particularly those in
engineering sciences.

There are two main reasons for students not being able to gain access to the
workplace environment for them to build up experience. Firstly, the number of
placement opportunities in the industry has not kept pace with the growing
demand and this problem is particularly rife in rural areas. Secondly, many
employers today prefer to place unemployed or low-skilled people in the
workplace as they receive funds from the relevant Setas for this purpose. When
university students have to enter the workplace for experience, the employer is
often responsible to pay them a stipend, allowance or wage.

Proposed solutions

At present, a short term solution is being explored with the Higher
Education South Africa and employers. A longer term solution would be to change
the experiential learning requirements of university or technology programmes.
If students are assisted to graduate, the number of graduates and technologists
entering the market will have a major impact in meeting the priority skills
required by the South African economy.

The benefits of training more artisans in local government

The benefits are threefold, namely:

1. Benefits to the public

The public has a right to expect living and working in an environment that
is adequately serviced. This can only be addressed by those who are competent
to operate and maintain municipal services. Therefore, local government needs
the services of artisans to ensure that a sustainable and safe supply of
services is maintained.

2. Benefits to municipalities

Many municipalities, are finding it difficult to acquire proper skilled
artisans to operate and maintain infrastructure. By investing in activities
that aid in the development of artisans, training centres and mentoring and
coaching, an extended pool of artisans will be available to choose from.

3. Benefits to apprentices

There are many benefits for people to become apprentices or to retrain in
their field of work. There is the benefit of better employment, personal
development, empowerment, more employment satisfaction, earning a salary but to
name a few. Over and above this, there are many young people in communities who
are inclined to work with their hands, making artisan training ideal for them
to expand their career opportunities.

The solutions

When it comes to local government and the need for artisans, the following
solutions have been proposed:

* The necessity to define the trades that are critical to local government,
for which the local government SETAs should become training custodians.
* The numbers required need to be determined.
* Training facilities need to be identified, existing training centres need to
be funded and re-opened.
* Rigorous artisan programmes need to be redeveloped.
* A pool of experienced artisans needs to be made available to assist with
workplace supervision training.
* Incentives or rebates need to be made available to encourage municipalities
to participate in redeveloping training centres or taking on apprentices.
* Salaries must compete with that of the private sector.
* Career awareness among school leavers must take place.

Without the partnership between local government, educational institutions
and the private sector, making this programme sustainable might be very
problematic in the long run. Therefore, with the aid of the National
Government, partnerships should be built, or where they are already in
existence, they should be strengthened to ensure that municipalities function
to their full capacity and manage to deliver services to all communities
effectively.

Thank you very much and wish you success in your deliberations.

Issued by: Department of Local Government, Gauteng Provincial
Government
31 July 2007