Deputy Minister Dube-Ncube address at the Unilever Cook-off Challenge Grande Finale, La-Lucia, Durban
Programme Director
Deputy Minister in the Presidency; Ms Nonceba Bianca Mhlauli
City of eThekwini EXCO Chair of Governance and Human Capital Committee, Cllr Nkosenhle Madlala
Director - General: Department of Higher Education and Training; Dr Nkosinathi Sishi,
Head of Department – KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs; Dr Nkosenye Godfrey Zulu,
Deputy Director General: DDG TVET Branch; Mr Sam Zungu,
Chief Executive Officer, Unilever South Africa; Mr Justin Apsey,
Chief Executive Officer - Unilever Southern Africa (SALT leader); Mr Stefan Cloete,
Chief Executive Officer – CATHSSETA; Mr Marks Thibela,
Chief Executive Officer FoodBev; Ms Nokuthula Selamolela,
Chief Executive Officer - SA Chef Association; Chef Coovashan Pillay,
Project Lead - Communications, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Director, Unilever Africa; Ms Sithembile Sefako-Ngobese,
UFS South Africa Executive Head Chef; Chef Vusi Mteshana,
General Counsel Africa; Ms Ntswaki Kutumela,
Head of Country, Unilever Food Solutions; Mr Kevin Lakay,
Vice President: Southern Africa Supply Chain; Mr Phahle Phalane,
Leadership of Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) and the South African Chefs Association;
Principals, lecturers, and staff of TVET colleges from across our nine provinces;
Judges and 9 Provincial finalists
Industry partners, mentors, and culinary professionals gathered here today;
TVET students;
Government officials;
Members of the media;
Good Afternoon!
Let me firstly start by acknowledging our guests of honour, the competitors and everyone involved in the process of getting us here. Congratulations to the finalists! The hardest thing about doing anything is starting. Let me appreciate that you not only started but you saw this through.
Historically cooking has been a gendered activity. Assigned mostly to women. In a way of judging their capability for marriage and the ability to use this skill for homemaking. Even in 2026 when you would expect a change in societal norms, the notion of value being attached to women and girls through cooking still exists. Sexism and misogyny still reign.
Yet here you are! Ironically, the Top 5 highest paid chefs in the world are all men. In a skill that we have been told through the generations, is only necessary for women but also necessary for the benefit of other people.
The debate of labour and the gender pay gap finds expression in this contradiction. We are still imprisoned by age old tales that only work to keep you in the prison of a lack of ambition and drive.
South Africa’s formal and informal workforce is held together by the labour of women. A lot of us are and were raised by mothers who cooked food to sell in the streets, in tuck-shops, outside school gates and some of our mothers cook food for other children at their domestic worker jobs.
This is the story of how cooking has changed and shaped a lot of futures-through entrepreneurial drive and need for survival.
Then come you. A young chef with the promise of the world as your oyster.
Driven this time by passion and purpose and not a desire to perform or audition for a place in society or someone else’s life. Armed with the support of Unilever, your college and the department. With a bright future ahead of you, all we ask of you is to take this opportunity and run with it.
This opportunity offers you a chance to change the trajectory of your life through self-employment. While cooking may be gendered and it is, it is also a skill that requires time and patience and a passion for it. You are not short of that.
Our country’s unemployment rate is an injustice we are committed to eradicating and you as the winners of this competition can help us do just that. The self-employment opportunities that exist in the culinary arts are many and unlike any regular home cook, your training has allowed you into the world of this vast industry.
Chefs have gone on to produce cookbooks, become recipe developers, dabble in food writing, food photography, producing chef graded knives, glasses and wearable merchandise for retail.
You are spoilt for choice in this regard! When we encourage students to study through TVET colleges we do so with careers such as these in mind! The careers that will allow you not only to shape the future and be part of it but change it for the better!
For your country and people! These types of skill acquisition allow you to be job creators but also compete in the workplace not only with theory but with a skill you can show up with and showcase to the industry.
The Skills Development agenda finds its expression in such endeavours. That you imagine yourself beyond the kitchen in your college, and beyond the kitchens in this country. More than being able to be self-sufficient, we always hope that yours are the skills industry needs at any given moment. Beyond that, you can see yourself contributing meaningfully to the economy of your community, province and country. KwaZulu Natal is a sought-after tourist destination.
Ours is a province people come to for leisure and rest. Through your skill, you have an opportunity to formalize your trade by becoming a private chef, by working in the restaurants in this city. You can be part of oceans economy- through tourism and coastal recreation. To travel the world by sea, cooking for guests on cruises.
To the Industry partners here, you hold a responsibility to be the custodian of these finalists to hold their hand as they navigate their win. You are their North Star and their lighthouse- we all are! Beyond that we are as a sector interested in creating an ecosystem that allows for skills development from production to retail.
From the school environment to the industry. We must be able to trace, through this system, the chilli and pepper from the farm to it being on the shelves in stores. In March the department hosted WorldSkills, a competition that will send 29 South African students to China.
What we are interested in, as the department is a cohesive structure and integration of the PSET system that makes it easy to not only create clear pathways but also to be able to trace our students post schooling. TVET colleges remain the first choice for our learners coming into the system.
The competitors from Public and private partnerships in our sector are central to our mandate of adequately skilling our students, but they also ensure that students can get employed post their qualification. The Skills Revolution as spoken about by the President is about ensuring that we are present to the needs of industry and can create clear pathways for students from the classroom and go into the workplace. We are unrelenting in that quest!
A month away from Women’s month and on the backfoot of June 16 and youth month. You are a youth that is held together by the bravery of the people that came before you. You are carried by the passion of the youth and as we look towards Women’s month you are too carried by the unwavering consistency of the mothers who dared to challenge the system, cleverly and with intention.
Your quest may be different, but you are woven into the fabric of this country’s history; so, look back in appreciation and reverence and look forward with determination and perseverance!
This future is in your hands! Congratulations and all the best for the future!
#GovZAUpdates
