Labour Minister Oliphant to deliver a keynote address at SEF’s Open Day to display workers dexterity
The Sheltered Employment Factories (SEF), an entity of the Department of Labour catering for employment of people with disability will on Friday, 17 October host an Open Day to display the technical dexterity of its employees.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant will deliver a keynote address during the Open Day. The event will also be attended by SEF Chief Executive Officer, Silumko Nondwangu and the departments senior officials including the Departments of Basic Education and the Public Works.
The primary purpose of the SEF is the economic empowerment of people with disabilities. The SEF was established in 1949 as a government post-Second World War intervention to alleviate the plight of returned soldiers and the disabled people in general to play an active role in the labour market. SEF operates as a non-profit organisation. The organisation has 12 factories in South Africa operating in seven provinces. The factories are located in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, East London, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Potchefstroom and Pretoria.
The SEF was recently conferred a legal status, elevating the organisation into a Government component with clearly defined mandate and status.
The factories manufacture furniture, textiles, metal work; leather work, book binding; and screen printing among a catalogue of goods. In terms of its business strategy SEF plans to expand and open two more factories in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces in the next three years, where it has no operations.
There are more than 2.5 million people with disabilities in South Africa some of which require an environment such as the one Sheltered Employment Factories provide. Some of the departments and entities that have over the years supported SEF by procuring goods and services include: Justice, SAPS, the Compensation Fund, Unemployment Insurance Fund, Water, Council of Geosciences, Health and Education.
During the Open Day guests will be taken on a factory exhibition tour to view the SEF’s array of manufactured goods.
Media is invited to the Open Day.
Date: 17 October 2014.
Time: 09h00
Venue: The Rand Factory, 17 Laub Street, Selby, Johannesburg.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela, Acting Ministerial Liaison Officer
Cell: 082 808 2168
E-mail: Mokgadi.pela@labour.gov.za
