Launch of Supported Employment Enterprises (SEE) "marks a wonderful day" for disabled in labour market - Labour Minister Oliphant
The growth and diversification of product mix of newly-revamped Supported Employment Enterprises (SEE) employing South Africa's people living with disabilities will be high in the agenda of the factories.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant told an Open Day event today in Gately, East London to officially launch the new name of Supported Employment Enterprises, that following the recent promulgation of the Employment Services Act, including the conferring of legal status to SEE, the factories' profile would take a new different apex level.
The SEE plans to expand its product range to also include: prosthesis, coffins, caskets, mobile kitchens for emerging business and a ray of other products.
The Supported Employment Enterprises is an entity of the Department of Labour. The factories were handed to the authority of the department in 1994.
The Supported Employment Enterprises have hitherto been known as Sheltered Employment Factories (SEF) until the recent promulgation of the new Employment Services (ES) Act in August 2015.
The SEE was established in 1943 for ex-servicemen and service women who could not hold employment in the labour market.
Oliphant said the SEE previously were previously an exclusive White men's club and, the launch of new corporate identity marks a new era in which all the disabled will take their rightful place in the economic landscape.
The main objective and goal of hosting this open day for the SEF/SEE was to launch the new brand (SEE) and increase awareness about the existence of the factories in the market, develop and implement programmes that promote the employability of persons with disabilities.
SEE has 12 factories in seven provinces except Limpopo and Mpumalanga employing 899 people with disabilities as at March 2015. The enterprises specialises in hospital linen and clothing production (textiles), embroidery, woodwork, metalwork, upholstery, bookbinding and screen printing. SEE’s main customers are from education, police and heath sectors.
Supported Employment Enterprises has factories located in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, East London, Johannesburg, Kimberly, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Potchefstroom and Pretoria. The land in which these factories are build is owned by the Department of Public Works.
The SEE plans over the next few months to initiate a marketing campaign of its new corporate identity.
Meanwhile, SEE will next week hold a week-long (October 19 to 23) exhibition at its Gately, East London Factory at Electron Street, in which it plans to showcase the craft, dexterity and nimbleness of its workers. The exhibition will feature household furniture, office furniture and textiles.
According to Dennis Matsepe, Sheltered Employment Factories, Deputy Director: Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, a Business Development Plan was in the process of being finalised. Matsepe said the Business Development Plan was designed to ensure that the factories remain competitive and produce marketable products.
He said SEE was also planning to establish a Research and Development Unit so as to help keep the factories innovative.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Cell: 082 808 2168
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