Programme Director
Chairperson of MERSETA, Ms Jeanne Esterhuizen
Deputy Chairperson, Mr Xolani Tshayana MERSETA CEO, Dr Raymond Patel Vice-Chancellors and principals of the various higher education and training institutions
Honourable Members of Parliament present
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I am honoured to be invited to be the keynote speaker at this national conference of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services SETA. I wish you well for your two days of deliberation and must congratulate you for a very interesting programme. I would have liked to have participated in more of the conference and regret that time does not allow me to spend more time with you.
The development of human potential is a priority for South Africa because the country’s envisaged development and inclusive growth path requires the participation of all South Africans in economic activity. All of our policy levers to achieve faster growth and development, higher employment and reduced levels of poverty include skills development. Our sectoral education and training authorities are critical to our human resource development strategy, and it is my view that this Manufacturing, Engineering and Related services SETA is particularly important.
The vision of this SETA is critical to the goals of government. You have set yourselves the goal of facilitating the sustainable development of skills transformation and to accelerate growth in manufacturing, engineering and related services. Your role is fundamental to the task of developing the human capability necessary to the success of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) which was adopted by cabinet this year. IPAP aims to scale up South Africa’s efforts to promote long-term industrialisation and industrial diversification beyond reliance on traditional commodities and non-traditional services.
To achieve this, we aim to expand production in value-added sectors with high employment and growth multipliers that competes in export markets as well as competes in the domestic market against imports. Much emphasis is placed on more labour absorbing production and services sectors and the increased participation of historically disadvantaged people and regions in the economy.
As government, we believe that manufacturing and other productive sectors of the economy are the engines of long-term sustainable growth and job creation. And we also believe that this engine of growth depends on appropriately skilled people.
One of the priorities of government is to accelerate artisan training. I am well aware of the massive decline in artisan production rates. The MERSETA figures showing the apprentice intake for 1982 to 2010 show a steady decline from over 6 000 in 1993 to an all time low below 2 000 in 2003. There has been a small annual increase since then, but we are only now approaching 1993 levels. What is clear is that we must address artisan skill scarcity.
I therefore wish to congratulate you for the leading role you are playing in your Accelerated Artisan Training Programme (AATP) which is a direct response to the call by government for an extraordinary effort in speeding up the number of qualified artisans in the engineering sector. I believe that you have more than 1 700 apprentices who are following the accelerated training format. The AATP and the Technical Skills Business Partnership (TSBP) has contributed to the marked increase in registered apprenticeships which now stands at 6 000 apprentices registered within the MERSETA levy paying companies. Credit for this initiative belongs not only to you, but also to the participating employers who have worked collectively to share best practice. I understand that this is regarded as a model in the field.
On behalf of government, I wish to thank you in particular for the cooperation programme to support local governments in the implementation of accelerated apprenticeships.
It is my intention to work intensively to strengthen artisan training and to increase the numbers and the quality of skilled artisans, particularly in priority trades. I will be working closely with this and other successful initiatives to take this forward and will be especially interested to explore how these initiatives can be better supported by our public FET Colleges, and how through partnerships we can expand access to structured workplace learning.
I also believe that we must address the quality of training of artisan training. This year we will make progress in the establishment of the National Artisan Moderating Body (NAMB). The work that we must do to establish the NAMB will benefit greatly from the performance monitoring and improvement strategies you have implemented in the AATP, including applications of your industry simulations.
When I look at the challenges we face in accelerating the production of high quality artisans to sustain our inclusive growth path, I cannot adequately express my indignation at the wastage even the destruction of human potential that we must now urgently redress. There are too many people are not able to acquire the skills they desperately need to lift themselves from the cycle of poverty and to progress.
The work that you are doing is not only building a new future, but it is of immense historical significance. Let us not forget that the colour bar introduced in the 1800s and consolidated in the next century explicitly prohibited blacks from accessing education and skills. The colour bar and made it illegal for any black to occupy skilled jobs. Successive periods of industrial growth led to skill shortages which were met not by lifting the colour bar, but by immigration policies. Even when in the era of post-apartheid labour market ‘reforms’ through legislation to provide for the deracialisation of the apprenticeship system, few black apprentices were indentured as a result of persistent racism.
It is not only in the training of artisans for our country that there is a legacy to overcome. This legacy is also evident in the work that we must do to provide access to education for adults. This SETA is to be congratulated on its innovative work in this field. The accelerated Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programme has provided accelerated learning opportunities to 1250 unemployed and 1250 employed adults at ABET levels 2 and 3.
I am pleased at the work you have done to develop a business practice learning programme at NQF one as an alternative to traditional ABET training, and the development of ABET curricula and learning materials at ABET L2, L3 and L4, customised to each of the MERSETA chambers to build a closer fit between ABET and the occupational needs of those sub-sectors. I have often argued that adults deserve substantial and relevant content in adult learning programmes. As we take forward the development of an adult matric, we will be pleased to learn from your successes.
When the skills development sector became the responsibility of the Department of Higher Education and Training in November of last year, I announced the extension of the NSDS II and current SETA licence by one year from March 2010 to March 2011 in order to allow us time assess the SETA landscape and design the architecture of the NSDS III in line with the new administration's strategic objectives. Last week, we released the draft framework of the NSDS III 2011/12 to 2015/16 as well as the proposed new SETA landscape for public comment. The proposed new SETA landscape suggests a reduction of the total number of SETAs from 23 to 21 and provides for the creation of six new SETAS. It also proposes the amalgamation of some of the existing SETAs and minor changes to others.
Ms Esterhuizen Chairperson of MERSETA, by now you will know that it has been proposed that the Motor and Petrol retail sub-sectors should be moved from the wholesale and retail SETA to the MERSETA. We have published this proposal for comment and trust that the MERSETA will carefully examine this proposal and advise me as to its wisdom before I must finalise the new SETA accreditation.
You will also know that we released the new NSDS framework, which amongst other things, seeks to strengthen the partnerships between SETAs, employers and institutions of learning. You will know that we expect this SETA to not only comment on the draft strategy, but that we expect immediate work to begin on the first part of developing the sector skill plan the detailed economic sectoral analysis and I trust that this will be developed in rigorous conversation with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). We will expect the Director-General of the DTI to approve your analysis and your sector skills plans. The research done for IPAP will be useful for your analysis.
I understand that the work that the SETA did in the 2008/09 sector skills plan will be a useful base for this exercise as you have already established a research and development sub-committee and developed a scarce and critical skills modelling instrument and have undertaken a trend analysis of workplace skills plans and annual training reports for the period 2004/07. We look forward to understanding how the modelling project, the first of its kind undertaken by a SETA, might provide assistance to skills development planning nationally.
The NSDS III proposes a new and innovative programme called pivot which provides for increased numbers and relevance of academic, professional and vocational learning that meets the critical needs for economic growth and social development. These programmes generally combine course work at universities, universities of technology and colleges with structured learning at work. This is achieved by means of professional placements, work-integrated learning, apprenticeships, learnerships, internships and the like.
Linked to this is the need to improve the interface and articulation of programmes at universities, universities of technology, colleges and SETAs. There must be improved synergy and closer working relationships amongst all these institutions, and I am pleased that there are representatives of various higher education institutions as well as colleges at this conference. The NSDS calls on all of us to stop thinking in silos and to consider the impact of programmes in each of our institutions on the rest of the system.
Ladies and gentlemen, you would have witnessed the shock reaction from several quarters this week to the announcement by Statistics South Africa that the official unemployment rate has climbed from 24.3 percent to 25.2 percent. COSATU has extrapolated that with 4.31 million workers now unemployed, each with an average of four to five dependents, around 20 million people in our country are living in poverty. These disquieting figures require that government, business and labour work together and make serious interventions to reverse this trend.
Commenting on the statistics on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) radio yesterday, economist Dr Azar Jammine diagnosed that the problem was a “weak” education and skills training system. Of course this is part of the problem but it is also a simplistic assessment of why potentially economically active workers are not able to get work.
If we are to tackle the issue of skills development, it is essential to understand the main blockages in the system. We need to understand that there is something systemically wrong with the current growth path which is still a semi-colonial, mineral extraction, export, consumer but debt driven economy whose growth recently has been fuelled by demand for primary commodities and mineral resources from China and India, as well as demand for consumer but non-productive economic activities. This semi-colonial growth path has also been characterised by casualisation, outsourcing and employment of cheap labour from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and this has become an alternative to investment in skills development. This is simply not sustainable hence the need to place skills development at the centre of our growth and development strategies. This context is sorely lacking in the analyses of economists like Azar Jammine.
Government, however, is not shirking from its responsibilities. There is both anecdotal and empirical evidence of skills shortages in a number of occupations and economic sectors within South Africa. It is clear that there is a tangible problem arising from the mismatch between the supply of and demand for skills in the South African labour market. There are certain areas of priority economic growth which require us to overcome particular skills shortages that are constraining growth and investment over the short term. This includes skills shortages in sectors such as energy, medium and high-technology manufactured goods and agricultural biotechnology.
The Human Resource Development (HRD) strategy therefore proposes a comprehensive and determined response from government. It also argues that the scope and importance of the HRD project extends beyond government and demands collective will and purposeful action from all stakeholders in society. In the spirit of engendering this collective effort, it demands the determination, commitment and accountability of individuals to invest time and effort in their own development. It demands the commitment of all enterprises and organisations to invest time and resources in HRD for the public good.
I therefore urge all sectors represented on the HRD Council, as well as our learned economists to study and engage on our policy document including the HRD strategy, the NSDS and IPAP all of which are interventions to skill our citizens and increase employment. In this year of action, we are all required to act.
Programme director, I am aware that the MERSETA has initiated many other innovative programmes. We are grateful to you for the contribution you make to the development of our people. The challenges that we must address together are enormous. South Africa requires a significant increase in human resource capacity to ensure that this and future generations have the requisite capacities and knowledge to generate income, reduce poverty and to be critical and caring citizens. Our work is to build capabilities for sustainable economic growth and the development of society.
The work of this administration is guided by both continuity and change continuity in terms of strengthening what has worked, and change given the opportunities arising out of the new education and training landscape and the need to accelerate skills development. As part of this process, we will be looking closely at the SETAs their functionality, relevance, public accountability as well as accountability to the stakeholders and promoting much more meaningful involvement of the trade union movement and workers in the work of the SETAs. I am confident that MERSETA will continue to be a frontrunner and champion in this skills revolution.
I thank you.
For more information contact:
Ranjeni Munusamy
Tel: 012 312 5555
Cell: 072 571 2812
E-mail: munusamy.r@dhet.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Higher Education and Training
6 May 2010
