The Director General of the Department of Labour, Advocate Rams Ramashia, on Tuesday lashed out at critics of the government’s skills development programmes, saying the critics have failed to offer alternatives that would change the lives of South Africans for the better.
Speaking at the Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority’s (Foodbev Seta) annual conference at Sun City, Advocate Ramashia said: “We should no longer take seriously those who continue to vociferously make a preposterous call for the scrapping of the Setas.”
He reminded delegates that government policies remain sound and focused on skills development for the betterment of the majority of South Africa’s people.
“These armchair critics have failed to offer alternative policy instruments when challenged to do so. They base their rejection of the critical role the Setas play on spurious grounds,” he said.
“They argue that failure of a few Setas to live up to expectations, is proof of their assertion that our policy model was defective,” said Ramashia. He said the detractors of the strategy were motivated by interests incompatible to the government’s commitment to decisively address the challenge of the country’s skills deficit, underdevelopment and unemployment.
“We would like to state categorically that it is not our intention to embark on a wholesale scrapping of the 25 Setas, but we will carry out a comprehensive review and ensure we improve on our results of the first five- year cycle of our National Skills Development Strategy,” Ramashia said.
Ramashia was also confident that the Skills Development Amendment Bill to be debated in the National Council of Provinces will — when passed — facilitate improved delivery on the part of Setas.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has announced a cash injection of about R6,4-million rand to be directed for use in skills training programmes, with a special focus on equipping the unemployed and people with disabilities in Limpopo province.
Speaking at an Imbizo Outreach Programme tour, Mdladlana said the project was part of the Public Works Programme aimed at skilling people working in the fields of water works and other related skills. Imbizo is a government initiative aimed at reaching communities at the grass roots level and presents an opportunity for community members to communicate with the minister in an unmediated manner.
Mdladlana welcomed the decision by Limpopo tomato farming company ZZ2 to reverse the dismissal of more 1 000 farm workers, who had engaged in industrial action. He was reacting to news that the workers, who were dismissed by the company in April, were to be reinstated with immediate effect following lengthy negotiations with union officials.
The minister also cautioned companies to respect the rights of their employees if they expected their businesses to grow, emphasising that failure to respect workers’ rights would lead to instability within the farming industry.
“We, as the government, will like to have a stable labour market and stable working environment because this would lead to the growth for both companies and the country’s economy”, the Minister said. – I-Net Bridge