Governor of the South African Reserve Bank Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday evening that South Africa is facing a critical shortage of specialist skills in a number of fields, more especially in the important financial and economic field.
However, he added it is pleasing to see some South African institutions were getting involved to help develop the skills base, as it benefited economic development.
He pointed out that in 2003 African women chartered accountants (CAs) comprised less than 1% of the total number of CAs in South Africa. Mboweni was speaking at the African Women Chartered Accountants’ (AWCA) gala dinner. He said it was pleasing to see an institution so focused on developing the country’s skills base where black women now make up 4,8% of the total number of CAs.
“In a country where women constitute the majority of the population, what this meant was that the South Africa economy was missing out on the potential contribution from this vast pool of talent,” he said, referring to the shockingly low black women CA base in 2003.
“It did not require a genius to know that this situation was untenable for the economy and our competitiveness in the global marketplace, but it also represented lack of economic justice,” said Mboweni.
Mboweni pointed out that in the four years since AWCA was founded, the number of black women CAs has increased and there should be no doubt that AWCA’s highly visible advocacy role has contributed to this rapid increase in the representation of black women in the profession.
Mboweni supported the formation of the organisation two years before its launch in 2003 and has actively supported its growth since.
“Once we have accepted that we have those scarce skills, we should go and do something about that,” he emphasised.
“I know that people do not like being reminded of the consumer culture that we have adopted, but it has a number of implications. One of them is that young professionals are so focused on displaying the shiny accessories of success that they have little or no time or money left to support causes that should be important to them,” said Mboweni.
“I say this because it is not possible for professionals to stay ahead of the game unless they belong to a professional organisation and are prepared to pay for this ongoing professional development,” concluded Mboweni. — I-Net Bridge