The government’s new five-year national skills development strategy will be thrashed out in October at an indaba hosted by the Department of Labour and involving business, civil society and government representatives.
Skills development, a cornerstone of government policy, aims to assist in fighting poverty, boosting job creation and fulfilling equity employment targets. The goal is that by skilling workers and the jobless, the lot of employees will be improved while South Africa’s estimated 40% unemployment rate will be cut.
The 25 sector education and training authorities (Setas), established in 2000 and funded largely through a 1% payroll levy, are pivotal to that strategy.
The government wants 80 000 previously unemployed learners under 30 in learnerships by March 2005. Setas fell 3 548 short of the May 2004 target of 72 000. For many Setas, which also have their own National Skills Development Strategy targets, meeting them has meant a huge jump in work-rate.
Many of the training programmes by 2003 were geared towards adult basic education, workplace-related qualifications and a plethora of skills programmes on HIV/Aids awareness and computer training.
The Department of Labour has praised some Setas for exceeding their targets and criticised others for missing them. Here are the top performers:
Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (Chieta)
”Congratulations to Chieta for being declared top performer by the minister of labour,” it says on this Seta’s website. It exceeded its targets by a third.
The Seta has also held six provincial roadshows to canvass imputs on the government’s proposed new sector skills plan, to be thrashed out in October. And it was on track to disburse almost all its income on skills training during the 2002/03 financial year.
Financial and Accounting Services (Fasset)
One of the best-performing Setas in the country, it has been rated the second-worst in terms of employment equity. So far Fasset has signed more than 9 500 learners on to learnerships — more than treble its target set in 2002. However, its current learner registration statistics indicate only 29% of learners fall within the previously disadvantaged group and less than 1% are disabled.
The Seta reaches out to high-school students through additional maths and technical drawing tuition, life skills and study technique training and a two-week stint in the auditor general’s office. This year the Seta will introduce continuous professional learning programmes on labour legislation and leadership and management.
Information Systems, Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies
It closed in on its March 2005 training target well ahead of time: about 3 000 learners were registered before March this year, when it was meant to have 2 170 learners on board. But what appears lacking is a take-up of trained, well-educated black managers. CEO Oupa Mopaki earlier this year told a public forum that half of 150 Western Cape learners who had completed high-level Seta training were still unemployed.
The Seta runs special information and communications technology-related short course.
Local Government, Water and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority
With local government a top priority for a government focused on service delivery at the grass roots, it is significant that the labour department found this Seta scored 364%, which translates into 3 110 instead of its targeted 670 enrolled learners. Included were 800 community development workers.
But not all is well. Discussions are currently under way to review the observer status of the department of provincial and local government in the Seta. And only 102 of South Africa’s 284 municipalities submitted workplace skills plans during the 2002/03 financial year. Late last year 500 municipal employees and 50 unemployed embarked on 18-month municipal financial management learnerships.
Transport Education and Training Authority
Credit must be given to this Seta as the transport sector is said to be at a loss over what it wants it to do.
Ranging across aerospace, freight handling, road, rail and maritime sectors, the Seta has a lot of ground to cover. There are an estimated 258 000 employees in about 7 000 member companies and an additional 200 000 working in the informal economy — taxis, small boats and other small businesses.
Questions remain on issues such as coordination with other training authorities. For example, the Seta wants to implement a pilot learnership for able seamen, something currently under the strict control of the South African Maritime Safety Authority.
Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather Sector Education and Training Authority
Headed by a trade unionist, the Seta is well regarded across the industry. The labour department in June said it had exceeded its growth and development summit targets by 77%. And that may be crucial, particularly for the clothing and textile sector, where about 20 000 jobs have been shed. The sector is hard-hit by low-cost imports and illegal imports.
Others in the top Setas praised by the labour department are:
Food and Beverages Manufacturing Industry Sector Education and Training Authority, whose learners enrol for training ranging from adult basic education to university courses in food technology as well as practical tuition in baking.
Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority, where people are placed in learnerships in, inter alia, occupational health, laboratory and social work, and which has reduced its surplus by a third.
Media, Advertising, Publishing, Printing and Packaging, which covers everything from HIV/Aids awareness to scarce skills development in radio and television and crafts, and whose numbers are impressive: over the first three years about 44 342 workers participated in structured learning programmes.
Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority, whose flagship Project Rave is a social development initiative for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).
Nine Setas fell far short of their targets. They include:
Diplomacy, Intelligence, Defence and Trade and Industry Sector Education and Training Authority
This Seta is appealing against the labour department’s finding of underperformance because it believes it was unfairly assessed. One criterion — SMME involvement — did not apply as the Seta services government departments. At 93%, defence is its largest client, and the conversion of apprenticeships has proved difficult.
Last Friday the Seta made its umpteenth presentation to the National Skills Fund for its 2001 proposal to enrol former liberation movement combatants in learnerships. Bureaucratic wrangling has held up the project.
Mining Qualifications Authority
Perhaps the initial controversy over the mining charter Black Economic Empowerment provisions has distracted the Seta from skilling. With 416 925 employees in the sector, the Seta’s 2002/03 annual report says there is ”a large number of workers who could benefit from a concerted effort of skills development”.
But has this happened? With R11,5-million from the National Skills Fund to establish a bursary scheme in 2002, the Seta added R15-million for technikon and university students. Yet only 135 had benefited by the end of March 2003.
It has set itself ambitious targets: by this year 4 000 enrolled in adult basic education, 5 000 on structured learning programmes and 72 000 unemployed learners to be registered.
Police, Private Security, Legal and Correctional Services
This Seta has battled with ”significant control deficiencies” in the awarding of tenders, changes in top leadership — its previous CEO was fired — and, according to its 2002/03 annual report, ”poor work habits and failure to understand that levy-paying organisations should be treated as clients”.
The Scorpions investigated the Seta for financial mismanagement in June 2002. At one stage, the labour department threatened to take over its administration. At the time only about half of the registered employers were paying levies and only 65% of employers had been registered. It has also long battled with the private security regulatory authority over who is in charge of training and skill standards.
Public Services Sector Education and Training Authority
Of the 10 000 people the Seta wanted to train, it has only reached 274. That is a 97% underperformance, according to the labour department. The ”institutional arrangements” of the Seta are under review. It had only registered four learnerships by 2002/03: project management, human resource management, financial management and local employment and skills development practice. To be fair, the Seta relies heavily on government departments and provincial administrations to submit training needs.
Sector Education and Training Authority for Secondary Agriculture
Irregularities and ”racist behaviour” were cited as reasons for the withdrawal of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union last month, whose seven members comprised the majority on the 10-strong board. The Seta fell far short of its target and was found by the department to be lacking in corporate governance.
An auditor general’s report submitted to the department last year showed a trail of irregularities, including the award of a R1,1-million contract to a company that listed the then-CEO among its shareholders. The auditor general’s statement on the financial year under review stated that ”material losses amounting to R456 475 arising from irregular fruitless and wasteful expenditure” were incurred. The Seta recorded a surplus of R10,43-million for the 2002/03 financial year.
Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training Authority
Ideally placed to develop skills for employment, the Seta is a perennial underperformer. Late last year then tourism minister Mohammed Valli Moosa threatened to impose quotas for tour guides — only 1 140 of the country’s 6 183 guides are black.
Its Tourism Leadership Project registered 1 814 employees and 5 130 previously unemployed learners. But the auditor general’s 2003 report said it had made irregular payments to consultants.
It has been a rough ride for the Seta. It suspended and dismissed three CEOs in the space of one year from 2002. The auditor general remarked on a weakness of internal controls — missing board approval for expenses, and a fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R167 820 for the use of consultants to prepare financial statements. The Seta had also been under the spotlight of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
Also wearing the dunce’s cap were:
Construction Education and Training Authority, which awards bursaries in, inter alia, architecture and engineering, and enrolls learners for the basic NQF level 1 in construction and roadwork — and whose website highlights the tax advantages of training workers.
Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority, whose lack of a complete asset register and ”an unreconciled difference” between the approved and recorded budget were highlighted by the auditor general in July last year. This Seta covers libraries, research institutions, early learning centres, school governing bodies, trade unions and political parties.
Primary Agriculture Education and Training Authority barely reached 75% of its own targets; of the 213 learners enrolled in the 2002/03 financial year only 82 were emerging farmers, and the remainder permanently employed workers.
Meanwhile, eyebrows have been raised over its CEO’s salary (in the R400 000 to R499 000 bracket) considering it is one of the smaller Setas.
Rated as ”average” were:
Banking Sector Education and Training Authority
Well regarded within the organised business community, this Seta surpassed its target by 65 positions and was caught by surprise by its rating. In the past year it placed 800 unemployed people in learnerships, the first phase of a three-year programme that aims to train 5 000.
During 2002/03 it trained 1 261 ”historically disadvantaged individuals” while 50 ”poorly educated HDI staff” were working towards matric.
But its 2002/03 annual report shows shortcomings: that year its target was 300 people on learnerships, but there were just over half that number. However, placement into employment was 90%, way above its 50% target.
Energy Sector Education and Training Authority
The Seta was cautioned that its skills qualification assessment conditions and criteria were not up to scratch. However, it has already responded with an action plan to correct the situation. In mid-2003 the auditor general found inadequate staff training and a lack of proper delegation of authority and separation of duties. But its CEO had been dismissed a year earlier; a replacement took over in January last year.
Forest Industries Sector Education and Training Authority
The Seta’s first CEO and chief financial officer were arrested, tried and jailed for 20 years for corruption and fraud amounting to more than R3-million. This ”victory for accountability” and the return of recovered monies marked the comeback for the Seta, according to its 2003 annual report. Today its website says it has trained more than 2 000 employees in 264 forest industry SMMEs and is targeting children younger than 15 for HIV/Aids awareness training. An estimated 78% of forestry workers are semi- or unskilled.
Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority
Targets were met spot on. And 76% of monies were paid out for training, among the best ratios for Seta disbursements. The insurance sector has had to struggle to come to grips with learnerships; there have never even been apprenticeships in the sector. Of the 28 accredited learning providers, 22 are corporate in-house trainers, according to the 2002/03 annual report. The Seta has set out to attract black high-school learners with a special six-month programme.
Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Education and Training Authority
An auditor’s report commissioned by the Seta executive council in January this year revealed management’s extensive violations of procurement policy, employment procedures and corporate governance structures involving up to R5-million.
However, the Seta appears to be a top-notch performer when it comes to the number of learnerships registered — a total of 76. And its first group of 32 learners graduating in air-conditioning, refrigeration and ventilation were placed in permanent jobs. The Seta and the Department of Trade and Industry has commissioned the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to research a new sector skills plan to provide guidance on skills development over the next four years.
Services Sector Education and Training Authority
From training domestic workers to postal services, property management and labour recruiting services, the Seta appears to have a finger in almost every pie. And its CEO, Ivor Blumenthal, has taken on issues such as threatening to litigate over the deregistration of some MBA programmes.
It is the largest of all the Setas, but appears to be cash-strapped and has been unable to meet demand for learnership funding this year. It has, however, exceeded its targets by almost double. It has been innovative in many ways, setting up call centres to assist its members, and establishing regional offices in at least four provinces, covering the main metropoles.