Skills Development Conference, Klerksdorp civic centre
25 July 2006
Programme Director
Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development and Tourism,
Honourable Darkie Africa
Mayor of Matlosane Local Municipality, Cllr T S Dodovu
Director-General of the North West Provincial Administration, Dr Manana
Bakane-Tuoane
Deputy Directors-General Messrs Solly Bokaba and Danie Schoeman
Heads of Departments and Senior Managers present
Representatives from the Department of Labour
Representatives from the Departments of Education, Science and Technology, and
Public Service and Administration
Representatives from the private sector, organised labour and organs of civil
society present
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a special honour for me to address this first day of our Provincial
Skills Development Conference whose appropriate theme is âSkills for
Accelerated Growth and Developmentâ.
I would like to begin by thanking all those who have been working tirelessly
to ensure that as a province we hold this critical conference, in particular
the Skills Development and Training Working Group of our Provincial Growth and
Development Strategy (PGDS).
I am most certain that all of us gathered here do hold the skills
development and training in our province so dear in our hearts that everyday we
look for sound sustainable solutions that will ensure our province and country
acquire the necessary skills required by our economic growth.
I am very heartened to note that both the theme of this conference and the
deliberations that will ensue speak directly to the critical imperative of
developing skills that are especially necessary for the success of our
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
In particular, the conference will have to assist us in determining and
developing those scarce and critical skills without which our accelerated
growth and development AsgiSA will not succeed.
It is therefore important that this conference dedicates a considerable deal
of time and energy to addressing specific implications for skills development
in relation to AsgiSA and its programme of the Joint Initiative for Priority
Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).
Addressing the JIPSA launch in March this year, Deputy President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka had this to say about skills development in our country:
âNothing short of a skills revolution by a nation united will extricate us
from the (skills) crisis we face. We are addressing logjams, some of which are
systemic and therefore in some cases entrenched even in the post apartheid
South Africa. The systemic natures of some of our challenges undermine our
excellent new policies but if we have a nation that is united in partnership we
can reverse the trend with regard to skills and give our policies a chance to
succeed in the medium to long term.â
Our province is already in the throes of the skills revolution that the
Deputy President is referring to. In June last year the North West Provincial
Government together with the North West Regional Office of the Department of
Labour successfully hosted the Provincial Skills Development Conference in
which the Five-Year Skills Framework for the province was developed.
Among other things, this Skills Framework for the North West province
stipulates skills development interventions and targets for the province in
relation to the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) 2005 â 2010 as well
as in relation to our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS)
2014.
This Conference is therefore a critical juncture at which we pause in order
to examine the road we have travelled thus far, to consider the impact of our
interventions and to identify loopholes as well as come up with ways of
accelerating the skills revolution we have started.
Therefore, we would not have done justice in this conference if we fail to
ask why, in the face of unprecedented economic growth of our country, we still
have unacceptably high levels of unemployment and poverty?
What are we doing and what can we do better to ensure that this amazing
growth of our economy is shared fairly among the citizens?
When Government introduced AsgiSA in July last year, we had made the firm
realisation that the most fatal constraint to the goal of shared growth in our
province and in the country is the shortage of skills.
We have no hope of succeeding in achieving the growth rate of 6% or more if
we do not urgently overcome the shortage of suitable skilled labour in our
province.
Although the challenge of skills development is by no means unique to our
province, it is important that we look for interventions that will exploit the
peculiar circumstances of our economy, our infrastructure and the human capital
of our province.
We need to ask what, in the short term, is our province offering by way of
high-level engineering skills for network industries? What is the state of our
city, urban, rural and regional planning skills?
What about artisan, apprenticeship and technical skills for infrastructure
needs and construction? How are we as a province managing our Healthcare and
Education facilities? Are we making the necessary interventions and to what
extent are we succeeding or failing in addressing skills challenges in
Information Communication Technology (ICT), mathematics, science and language
competence?
Are we optimally utilising our retirees, our mentors and volunteers to areas
of need such as our municipalities? Are our education institutions and the
private sector coming on board to assist us with graduate placements to
fast-track people who have qualifications but lack the required experience?
What are we collectively doing to improve the quality of education in our
schools?
I believe that these are all critical questions that this conference must
begin to answer. I am further convinced that our skills development must lay
particular emphasis on assisting poorer schools in our province and multiplying
our efforts to support mathematics, science and Information Communication
Technology.
In this regard, we must pay critical attention to what goes on in our
schools. In particular, we must regard our teachers as a scarce and priority
skill that must be developed, among other things.
The conference will also have to produce a credible programme with clear
targets and timeframes for the province, with specific reference to the
implications for AsgiSA and JIPSA as I have mentioned.
I can never exhaust from this platform the myriad of challenges facing us if
we are to achieve the skills revolution that Deputy President says our country
needs. But I am certain that we have assembled here for the next three days an
army of soldiers, commanders and volunteers all ready to take us into the next
gear of our skills revolution in the province. Victory is therefore
certain!
In conclusion, I would like to wish this conference success in its
deliberations, foresight in its resolutions and unflinching determination in
implementing the programme to address the skills shortage in our province and
our country.
I have no doubt that the steps we take today and tomorrow, are critical
stepping stones to a future characterised by shared growth and a prosperous
North West province.
May you have a successful Provincial Skills Development Conference.
I thank you.
Issued by: North West Provincial Government
25 July 2006
