The government’s legislation is a minefield of jargon, acronyms and bureaucracy
Glenda Daniels
If you are familiar with the SDA, SDLA, SAQA, ETQA, ETDP, Seta, NSF, NSA, and there’s more, you’re probably the only person in South Africa who is.
Within companies confusion reigns over the implementation of the government’s bureaucratically heavy legislative plans for skills development through Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas).
Even though the Skills Development Act (SDA), aimed at kick-starting a process of retraining the country’s 10-million strong workforce, came into effect at the beginning of this month, only 30% of employers have registered with the Receiver of Revenue.
This legislation is the last limb of the government’s attempt to improve the low skills base in the country.
When companies pay their levies, 0,5% of the total payroll, to the Receiver of Revenue, 50% can be claimed back, depending on the level of training they offer workers.
However, the problem is wading through the jargon, acronyms and bureaucracy to implement the legislation.
Further, Setas have no idea how much money they will get to implement their plans, and employers are confused about how to implement the new legislation in their companies.
The Department of Labour originally set a deadline of June 1 for companies to produce their workplace skills plans, but it has decided to shift the deadline to a later date because large numbers of companies have not registered, nor are Setas ready to go ahead with skills training.
After the Mail & Guardian published an article on the Skills Development Act a month ago, it received numerous calls from companies desperate for more information, giving credence to the belief that there is confusion rather than a lack of interest among companies to go ahead with skills training and development.
Training manager of Liberty Life Lisa le Roux said that while her company had paid its levy, there was in-fighting between the banking and insurance sections on how to implement training.
“Nobody understands the act or how the Setas work. It’s a bureaucratic process. Businesses will carry on doing whatever it takes to make money, and training was happening anyway, before the legislation. The Setas might just end up being a token thing,” Le Roux said.
To make matters worse, expensive consultants are used, which is a waste of money, she felt.
A consultant involved in training said she did not feel positive about the process either. She felt that while the “ideals behind the legislation are sound, you’re just creating another bureacracy, and the big problem is implementation”.
There are also rumours, she said, that the Receiver of Revenue does not have the capacity to chase up companies who haven’t paid levies.
Part of the new order will consist of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), which will monitor employees’ skills. An NQF representative would assess a company’s level of “skilling” and will grade employees, but through rather intangible and dodgy criteria, say some sources.
A manager at one company said that this is based on the concept of “outcomes-based work” and attempts will be made to measure rather generic qualities like “listening skills, personal interaction skills, planning, writing skills, teamwork ability, problem solving, using science and technology effectively, as well as being culturally and aesthetically sensitive”.
“It’s a potentially horrendous task. How do you measure and determine all this? It’s difficult and will come unstuck,” she said.
In response the executive officer of the labour department’s National Skills Authority (NSA), Sam Morotoba, said that companies need to be specific about what they are confused about regarding skills training implementation.
The South African Revenue Service, he said, has published guidelines and the Department of Labour has published pamphlets, and even set up a website where questions can be asked, as well as established a hotline for queries.
Morotoba said that the deadline for skills development facilitators to be set up has shifted to September 30 from May 15, because of the delay in companies registering.
And are the Setas ready for action? “Yes, but at an uneven level. Some are still appointing personnel and others locating premises.”
Labour analyst Jackie Kelly from Andrew Levy and Associates says that the whole act is a very complex piece of legislation. It’s a hierarchical, not a flat structure, she says.
“Once you think you’ve come to grips with it, then you go on to the next level and it’s even more complicated. It is also administratively difficult to implement but, at the end of the day, you will have workers with portable skills.”