South Africa’s skills challenges “manifest especially” in those areas of the economy that need technical and specialised skills, such as engineers in mining as well as in the chemical, electrical, mechanical and nuclear fields, while artisans, geologists and economists are also needed, Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday.
In reply to a question issued on Tuesday to African National Congress MP Christopher Thabo Molefe, the minister said her department “has considered importing skills from abroad”.
“This was done following the identification of critical and scarce skills by the Department of Labour [and] various sectoral training authorities, together with other government departments, with a focus on those skills that are required for South Africa to meet the goal of 6% economic growth.
“Our skills requirements are, amongst others, catered for in the national quotas as gazetted and published by the Department of Labour from time to time.”
The minister said it “should be mentioned”, however, that the shortage of skills will not be adequately addressed without the cooperation of our various sectors.
A good example is the recent approval by the minister of labour to allow Sasol, the petrochemicals company, to import a total of 821 artisans to help resolve its immediate skills crisis, while insisting on the need to continuously upgrade the levels of skills among South Africans, she said. — I-Net Bridge