The Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta (Merseta) is working towards making a tangible difference in the development of skills in the manufacturing industry.
Merseta is one of the 25 established Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) established by the Skills Development Act. The organisation is responsible for facilitating skills development across five industries: metal and engineering; auto manufacturing; motor retail and components; new tyre and plastics.
About 23 000 companies are registered with Merseta and about 500 000 workers are employed across the five industries.
In the past two years Merseta has concentrated on establishing the building blocks of the skills development strategy. The core elements of this strategy relate to developing and registering learnerships, setting up an education and training quality assurance (ETQA) body as well as the policy and process for recognition of prior learning (RPL), developing strategies to support small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs), and providing adult basic education and training (Abet) to workers in the manufacturing sector.
Initially, Merseta focused on establishing governance structures and developing the infrastructure — such as a head office in Johannesburg and six regional offices — to implement the organisation’s goals.
Great strides have been made in all these areas and training has started in earnest. From implementing policies and strategies, Merseta’s progress can now be measured by the number of learners that are coming aboard.
Merseta’s key facets are treated as projects to ensure prompt delivery. The following are some of these key projects:
Learnership projects
The development and registration of learnerships is one of the key projects undertaken by the organisation. To date, Merseta has registered 29 learnerships and has a further 60 in the pipeline, all of which will be registered by the end of the year.
With more than 110 companies already participating, Merseta has more than 1 500 learners registered and pledged to formal learnerships. These form part of a pilot process to test this new approach to workplace learning. The target is to have 4 000 learners by the end of the year.
The most recent learnerships have been launched at motor manufacturer DaimlerChrysler and component manufacturer Dorbyl, which took on 120 learners on Merseta’s component-manufacturing learnership. DaimlerChrysler is piloting a Mechatronics learnership and is testing the fast-tracking of learners from National Qualifications Framework level 2 through to level 5.
The Mechatronics and Autotronics learnership have been developed with specialists from Germany and they are addressing skills for cutting-edge technology in the auto manufacturing industry. Similar developments are under way in the metal, engineering, plastics and new tyre industries.
Significantly, Merseta has also taken steps to encourage companies to enrol more women on learnership programmes. Additional grants are provided to companies who contract women learners on these learnerships, and already the fruits of this project are evident.
SMMEs
Getting more SMMEs on board poses one of the many challenges for Merseta. Some 85% of companies in the engineering and manufacturing sectors are classified as SMMEs.
Recognising the importance of SMME participation in skills development, Merseta commissioned a research project last year to examine strategies to increase SMME participation. It was found that many companies still regard the levy imposed by the Skills Development Act as an added-burden tax rather than a training incentive.
Thus the majority of companies have failed to take advantage of the resources available to them.
Merseta’s strategy now sees the organisation taking training to the SMMEs via the three employer associations: the Retail Motor Industry, the Plastics Federation and Seifsa, the steel and engineering employer organisation.
Merseta has developed partnerships with these organisations to deliver training to SMMEs. Two vehicles are used. The first is through training projects, which are funded by Merseta but implemented through the employer associations.
The second is the employment of 26 skills development facilitators by the associations to provide free advice and assistance to SMMEs to claim grants. Merseta also pays for this.
Trade unions form part of a committee that manages the project. The project has been allocated R40-million, with R20-million already earmarked for projects. A further R10-million has been spent on training projects and facilitators.
About 9 000 workers will be trained through this project over the next year.
Abet
Merseta has also identified Abet as a priority. It has initiated a National Skills Fund-funded Abet research project with the University of Natal contracted to complete the research. This project aims to develop Merseta policies and strategies to increase Abet delivery across the sectors. R10-million has been allocated to the implementation of this project.
Training will start for about 3 000 Abet learners before the end of the year.
Grants
Great strides have been made in the processing of grants. Merseta has paid more than R100-million in grants to date, and the process of receiving levies has been speeded up with new technology that enables companies to submit their applications online.
Application forms have also been simplified, thus further encouraging companies to participate.
R60-million has been allocated to discretionary grants. These funds have been allocated to apprentice training, skills programmes and sector-skills priorities such as HIV/Aids, safety and health-awareness training.
About 860 new apprentices were taken on by companies in the past financial year and will be paid for by Merseta’s discretionary grants scheme.
Although Merseta still has a small number of companies claiming grants, the SMME strategy will ensure the numbers treble over the next year. An ongoing challenge lies in the disbursement of a greater number of grants to companies.
Other challenges
Another challenge has been to get unemployed learners placed within companies. Although some companies are taking on unemployed workers, many remain reluctant and Merseta’s marketing strategy is now geared towards encouraging companies to take on more unemployed learners.
Skills shortage
Scarce skills remain another challenge. Merseta has already held a stakeholder workshop and a research project is under way to ascertain what skills are lacking within the industry.
Strategic projects to address these areas will be on the cards from early next year.
A bursary scheme to support workers and school leavers in acquiring skills in identified areas is also on the cards and an initial amount of R20-million has been allocated.
Once Merseta has identified areas of scarce skills and has come up with ways to fast-track the learning of those skills, the organisation will be in a strong position to make serious and lasting inroads that will help address unemployment and put the whole economy on an even sounder footing.
The organisation has also developed links with the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure synergy with government programmes.