T Makwetla: Launch of Nkangala FET College

14 March 2007

MEC for Education, Hon S Masango,
Executive Mayors of Emalahleni Local Municipality and Nkangala District
Municipality respectively, Hon L Malatjie and S Mashilo,
Chairperson of the College Council Mr L Ntlapho and Members of the College
Council,
Head of Department Mr M R Tywakadi and Senior Managers in the Department of
Education,
The CEO of the Nkangala FET College, Dr Qwabe, and the College Management and
Staff,
Circuit managers and school principals here present,
Our Social partners,
SETA representatives,
Student Representative Council Members (SRC), and the students body at
large,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen

It is a great pleasure for me to address you on this occasion of the
official launch of Nkangala Further Education and Training (FET) College. This
launch marks a critical milestone in the government’s programme of developing a
co-ordinated FET system that provides high quality programme-based vocational
and occupational training. The programme for the transformation of the FET
system was intended to create a FET system that provides the critical
intermediate and higher level skills and competencies that our country needs,
to attain a high level global competitiveness, and enhance service delivery and
implementation capabilities of the State.

At the centre of this endeavour is the goal to attain growth for our country
that is symbiotically connected with the growth of its people, their fulfilment
and material comfort.

South Africa’s Medium Term Strategic Framework highlights the need to
develop critical skills required by the economy in order to define the growth
trajectory that will enable us to half unemployment and reduce poverty by 2014.
It contends that the main and central intervention required is to grow the
economy. In identifying factors that constrain growth in South Africa, the
government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA)
identifies the shortage of skilled labour as one of the key constraints. It is
for this reason that the acquisition of priority and scarce skills has been
prioritised by government through the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills
Acquisition programme. Some of the key skills required for AsgiSA are:
* high-level, world-class engineering and planning skills for the 'network
industries' transport, communications and energy all at the core of our
infrastructure programme
* city, urban and regional planning and engineering skills which are
desperately needed by our municipalities
* artisan and technical skills, with priority attention to those needed for
infrastructure development
* specific skills needed by the priority AsgiSA sectors starting with tourism
and BPO and cross-cutting skills needed by all sectors especially finance,
project managers and managers in general
* Skills relevant to local economic development needs of municipalities,
especially developmental economists.

In defining the role of FET institutions in the Province, it is essential
that these institutions design curricula and programmes that directly
contribute to the skills development agenda of the country as outlined in the
National Skills Development Strategy (2005–2010). FET Colleges need to
contribute to the realization of a vision for creating ‘skills for sustainable
growth, development and equity’, and promoting employability, and sustainable
livelihoods through skills development. Programmes should be designed to offer
opportunities for the unemployed, especially youth, women and the disabled to
undergo training that provides entry into a particular vocation, occupation or
trade. This intervention will facilitate absorption into the labour market, and
afford opportunities for self-employment, and job placement.

As part of the FET transformation programme, the Province saw the merger of
four technical colleges, namely CN Mahlangu, Middleburg, Mpondozankomo, and
Witbank, to form Nkangala FET College that we are formally launching today.
This was an important task that had to be undertaken to streamline and focus
the provision of necessary knowledge, practical skills as well as applied
vocational and occupational competencies for students in the Nkangala region.
It was also meant to allow for the process of identifying niche areas of
programme delivery, transform the curriculum to respond to labour market needs,
share resources, and avoid duplication in the delivery of FET education.

Programme Director, let me take this moment to thank the members of the
College Council, senior leadership of the College and the Department of
Education, key partners and stakeholders for having played a critical
leadership role in the merger of four institutions to create Nkangala FET
College.

We must acknowledge that a lot of progress has been made in consolidating
the foundation of the new institution, integrating systems and cultures of
different institutions, and setting up effective governance structures within
the context of the FET legislative and policy framework. It is commendable that
within three years, the College has managed to turn around the staff profile to
reflect 30% women representation in management. We must sustain the
transformation programme to create a Centre of Excellence that is well poised
to respond to labour market needs as identified by the public and private
sector employers.

As we formally launch this College, we are opening a new chapter for the
implementation of the new curriculum for the National Certificate (Vocational),
levels 2 to 4. In a phased approach, it replaces the previous qualifications
that were applicable to the FET colleges. It addresses the critical importance
of integrating theory and practice in its approach to learning. We are
confident that it will enable students to acquire the necessary knowledge,
practical skills, applied competence and understanding required for employment.
We should build all the necessary capacity to implement and sustain the impact
of this new curriculum.

As we address the problem of scarce skills in critical areas of the economy
and public service delivery in the province, we see the role of FET Colleges as
critical to the targeted supply of requisite skills needed to unlock delivery
blockages. To address the skills crisis constraining delivery in the
construction industry, including but not limited to infrastructure development
such as schools, hospitals, roads and housing delivery, we need ‘targeted
massification’ of skills required by the province to grow. To achieve this, the
government has allocated financial resources for the recapitalisation of 3 FET
Colleges to support initiatives towards strengthening the human resource base,
improving systems and infrastructure, provision of equipment, and
transformation of the curriculum to address the skills development needs of the
economy.

As a province, we are conscious of the fact that the success of our bold
plans and targets for the implementation of ‘Big Five’ provincial flagship
projects will depend on the availability of requisite skills required to
deliver on these projects:
* The implementation of the ‘Water for All’ flagship will require capacity in
project management, engineering and plumbing technical skills to ensure that
the infrastructure for the delivery of water services is rolled out to all by
2010.
* As the province ratchets up the implementation of economic development
infrastructure projects along the Moloto and Maputo Development Corridors, the
constraining factor of skills shortages in engineering design, road
construction, quantity surveying, project management etc, will need to be
addressed to prevent project failures and negative impacts on economic growth
prospects.
* Our focus on the implementation of the Tourism, Heritage and Greening
Mpumalanga flagship project calls for curriculum design innovations that are
able to integrate provincial heritage and environmental education and
conservation so that the Province has a depth of skills required to develop our
tourism product to benefit the Province.
* The challenge of creating a "Green Province" will need to enhance capacity in
communities and municipalities to design and implement environmental management
programmes.

The challenge will be to design and offer basic entry-level skills to enable
unemployed people to take advantage of possibilities offered by the
implementation of flagship projects in job creation. The acquisition of basic
accredited qualifications and skills through FET Colleges will ease entry into
the labour market economy.

The question we need to ask ourselves as leaders and practitioners in FET
education is "How do we position our curriculum offering and programmes to
progressively provide a sustainable pool of skills and competencies to support
the implementation of Big Five developmental flagship projects?" What are key
levers in the domain of FET institutions to contribute to the ‘Accelerated
Capacity Building’ flagship project that the Province is implementing?

Our view is that skills development intended to create delivery and
implementation capacities remains a critical success factor. And we need to
position FET institutions to play a central role to address the skills needs of
the Province.

Programme Director, international benchmarks show that the success in
matching the skills supply side with the labour market demand side lies in the
ability of FET institutions to forge close partnerships with industry, and open
up space for ongoing and systematic industry input into the design of the
curricula and programmes offered by these institutions. Similarly, Nkangala FET
College needs to work towards enhancing partnerships with business and the
public sectors in order to build links between training and job placement. The
College should also establish sustainable partnerships with Sector Education
and Training Authorities (SETAs) to position itself to offer and manage
learnerships offered by the SETAs.

It is encouraging to learn about the partnerships and programmes that the
College has implemented in partnership with various SETAs. The College has,
amongst others, achieved successes in the implementation of the Public
Administration Learnership in partnership with Public Sector Education and
Training Authority (PSETA), Project Rave (Retrenchees and Victory to
Entrepreneurs) in partnership with the Wholesale and Retail SETA, and LED
Learnerships for Local Government and Water SETA.

Strong emphasis on private sector contribution to FET creates possibilities
for own revenue generation that enables the college to improve access through
financial support to needy students. We must thank the College Council, senior
management and staff for the leadership insight and commitment to supporting
these noble initiatives for skills development. In the same vein, our
appreciation is extended to the private sector partners and key stakeholders
for supporting the College in its endeavours.

Ladies and Gentleman, the official launch of Nkangala FET College marks the
beginning of an exciting but enormous task ahead, to open up endless
possibilities for Mpumalanga to grow and prosper.

Thank You

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
14 March 2007