Affirmative action cannot be blamed for South Africa's skills shortage, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday.

"This country is running so short of skills. If you blame apartheid you are barking up the wrong tree," Mantashe told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

Speaking after a meeting with the business organisation Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI), Mantashe said linking the two issues was polarising the debate.

"We need to shift the focus [to] real issues -- that there is a chronic shortage of skills, and we need to accelerate [gaining these skills]."

AHI CEO Stef Coetzee said the organisation had many skilled people who could help provincial and local governments.

Mantashe said in order to continue meeting affirmative action targets, mentorship and coaching should take place when, for example, a retired engineer could be partners with a newly-qualified one.

"It takes time and therefore you partner these people and are actually getting skills into the economy. Eventually the skills issue becomes neither black or white," Mantashe said