While the government finesses its plans for sector education and training authorities (Setas), the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy discussion paper has shed light on how 24 Setas could be cut to five.
This is being flagged before the Labour Department’s skills-development conference in October, where stakeholders will grapple with the department’s plan to reduce the number of Setas from 24 to five to align them with the country’s industrial strategy that was spelled out by the Trade and Industry Department.
Sam Morotoba, the deputy director general responsible for skills development at the Labour Department, says the conference will look at how the training agencies will be merged into mega-Setas to improve coordination with the industrial policy objectives.
He says, however, that the plan can be implemented only in 2010. In addition, the conference will discuss changes to the current national skills-development strategy.
A source close to the Labour Department says the government wants to reduce the number of objectives and targets set for Setas to focus them strictly on skills-development issues.
”There are a number of things, such as SMMEs [small, medium and micro enterprises] and adult basic education, forced into the strategy. The general feeling is that such things could be better placed somewhere else to allow Setas to focus strictly on skills development,” the source says.
The new plan is a measure of the government’s frustration at the failure of Setas to accelerate the implementation of skills development in the country. It follows calls from various quarters, including the ANC and the Democratic Alliance, for radical measures to improve the performance of Setas.
Although business and labour are opposed to cutting the number of Setas, the government is adamant the plan will improve the performance of Setas.
The industrial strategy is at the heart of the government’s drive to push economic growth to 6% and halve unemployment by 2014. The policy focuses on sectors seen as key areas for growth and job creation, such as automotive, agri-processing, chemical, clothing and textiles, and biofuels.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says: ”We can’t ignore the industrial strategy. We have to align the Setas with the strategy for them to function better. It makes no sense to have more than one Seta operating within the financial sector or the public sector.”
In its policy discussion document, the ANC argues that clustering Setas into five industrial groupings would allow the state to economise on the administrative resources needed to deal with various sectors in the economy. Executive and administrative jobs at Setas are therefore likely to be cut.
Setas of the future
Setas, according to the ANC, can be incorporated into five industrial groupings that are key to the national industrial policy framework. The M&G outlines the different sectors below and identifies possible scenarios:
Natural resources-based sectors will incorporate part of the chemical-industry Seta, part of the media advertising, publishing, printing and packaging Seta and manufacturing, engineering and related services.
Downstream beneficiation of natural resources will incorporate part of the manufacturing and engineering Seta, part of the media and advertising Seta, the mining Seta and part of the chemicals Seta.
Advanced manufacturing sectors will incorporate part of the manufacturing Seta, transport Seta and energy Seta.
Labour-intensive sectors will incorporate the clothing, textile, footwear and leather Seta, the food and beverage Seta and part of the manufacturing industry Seta.
Services will incorporate the tourism Seta, part of the media and advertising Seta, the information system, electricity, telecommunications and technology Seta, finance Seta, banking Seta, insurance Seta, public service Seta, education, training and development Seta, health and welfare Seta, local government Seta, public sector Seta and safety and security Seta.