The Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (Setas) have until Friday to apply for renewed ”certificates of establishment,” the Labour Department said.
In a media statement on Wednesday the department said the Setas’s current period of establishment would end in March 2005 and the Skills Development Amendment Act required each skills training body to apply for the new certificate a year in advance.
”The re-establishment exercise provides an opportunity to review actual performance and to act in sectors where there may be serious under performance,” Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said.
”That way I will give my approval on matters such as the amalgamation of Setas where the need arises, new constitutions, the transfer of assets, liabilities, obligations and rights, and the new sector and scope.”
Mdladlana cautioned that the re-establishment of Setas was sensitive and should not be allowed to get in the way of improving performance and the delivery of the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS).
”The National Skills Agency has discussed this matter and concurs that the Seta re-establishment process should not be seen as a wholesale destabilisation of the Seta environment.”
The Setas were expected to submit a variety of reports relating to:
the scope of transfers and/or boundary changes, or any envisaged mergers;
progress towards the achievement of the NSDS targets;
the Seta’s own assessment against the 2003/04 business plan;
the level of under-expenditure, cash flow and revenue for 2003/04. – Sapa