Date: 16/10/2003
Source: Department of Labour
Title: Mdladlana: Closing address at National Skills Development Conference
CLOSING ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF LABOUR, MMS MDLADLANA, AT THE NATIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE, 16 October 2003
Programme Director, honourable Members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, employer, trade union, community and training provider organisation representatives, friends from other South African government departments, professional bodies and the media, as this third National Skills Conference draws to a close there are only a few more things left to be said.
Our President, his Excellency Thabo Mbeki, plotted the path ahead at the Growth and Development Summit and it is up to us now to take the baton and run the race. It's a race we all agreed to run, and we agreed that we'd do it together. As with any exercise, we're going to get fitter as we go - indeed we're already witnessing the benefits of the work we've done to date. If we win, we'll know that we have contributed to taking our country closer to that vision of South Africa that we all share. The honour of that alone should drive us forward - together knowing that at the end, when we look back, we'll feel the pride of knowing it was a job well done - that feeling of Vhutsila!
But of course the road ahead is not going to be without its challenges. If we look forward to the rest of this year and the next one, we know that on top of the work we are already doing, there are areas in which we have to do more. At this Conference we've discussed the three areas in which we have to stretch further if we are going to make our targets - in ABET, in learnerships and across all our work, in the equity targets. No doubt it will be challenging.
But let me say, difficult though these challenges may be, I expect the SETAs and my own Department to take up the challenge.
And to SETAs, in so many areas you have done so well. But as we move from an environment of voluntary Memoranda of Understanding to legally binding Service Level Agreements under the new Skills Development Amendment Bill, know that I will be looking to my Department to ensure that unspent funds are targeted and spent on the priorities we have together identified, both in the National Skills Development Strategy as well as at the Growth and Development Summit. At this point I shall not prescribe the exact nature of this spending, and will leave it to SETA Boards to direct, but if the funds remain unspent and critical targets are left unmet, know that I will not stand aside idle. And know too that I will take these matters into consideration when reconstituting the SETAs in March 2005.
And whilst on the matter of the reconstitution of the SETAs let me say unequivocally, that I do not envisage a major change of landscape in this process. For the majority of SETAs who have shown the capacity to perform the tasks spelt out in the Act, you face an almost certain future. But it would be negligent of me if I were not to say to the isolated few who are falling behind, who persistently fail to address leadership problems and who think that quibbling at board or staff level is more important than serving our people - your days are numbered. And to the employers and unions who sit on these Boards, I say, remember your commitment at the Growth and Development Summit - you agreed to "accept responsibility for the performance of SETAs" and you undertook "to take active steps to address problems and accelerate delivery by these institutions". (Agreement 4.6.2) - now is the time to act on these undertakings.
The National Skills Authority certainly has its work cut out for it - as there are a number of major areas of work that need to be delivered to me next year and they are:
1. Advice on the reconstitution of SETAs - as I have just outlined
2. Advice on the regulations required by the Amendments to the Skills Development Act
3. Advice on the new National Skills Development Strategy - much discussed at this Conference
4. Advice on the National Qualifications Framework Task Team Consultation Report.
In relation to the NQF I have received your request for an extension and let me save time and say that I have consulted with my colleague, Minister Asmal, and we have agreed to give the National Skills Authority, together with its organised constituencies, an extension of time - to the end of November. A formal presentation both by the individual constituencies as well as the National Skills Authority to the Task Team will be expected no later than the 5 December 2003.
This constitutes a significant workload - but I have confidence in your leadership in these matters Dr Baloyi and in the quality of the team you are leading. I know that my Department is available to provide support wherever required and that as the Department has now completed its internal restructuring process, we believe that the vacancies in the Secretariat that serves you will be filled shortly. But constituency structures will have to help - as the NSA is ultimately only as good as the inputs you bring. I trust too that the partnership between the NSA and the Department will be strengthened by the necessity to share this considerable load!
I appreciate that as the National Skills Authority does its work it will be calling on others to make inputs and to attend workshops and to contribute comments to various draft documents. I know too that this will further strain your capacity to deliver on your core implementation obligations. This is a challenge that we need to manage by good planning, good preparation and discipline with regards to keeping to timelines and paying attention to quality.
But I urge you to find a way to stay focused on delivery and to look at all these policy, institutional and strategy matters through the lens of implementation - what will help to accelerate "skills for productive citizenship for all" - not only in theory, but in practice and soon! They are all about the same thing in the end - finding the most efficient ways of getting the right services to those who need them quickly- and then checking back to see that those we set out to serve are happy with our service and have enjoyed real benefits as a result of our efforts.
We have just heard from our social partners that there is much to celebrate, but many problems to solve - some easy, others rather intractable - but we'll have to take them one step at a time - stay open and listen carefully to one another. We've done it many times before - our experience has taught us how - let's hope that the lessons we have learnt before will mean that we can progress more quickly now. After all we are all under pressure to deliver to our constituencies and our people are getting less tolerant of the talk, they want training to happen and they want it now.
But let us not drown under the problems - there will always be more to do. We have done enormously well - we've met a third of our targets, and the majority of the rest are well within reach. The Implementation Report tabled at this conference testifies to the hard work that is taking place all over the country and this is extremely good. I urge you to keep it up and wherever possible, work smarter if harder is not possible, and both harder and smarter if it is possible to do so.
And in closing let me remind you that the International Labour Organisation will be finalising a new resolution on Human Resources Development and Training at its Conference in Geneva next year. The draft resolution has already been widely debated and I believe a copy has been included in your packs for ease of reference. It is worth a read, because it shows beyond any shadow of doubt that we are not alone in the many challenges we face. In many instances they are mirrored very closely on the international agenda. And as we struggle to bridge the divides of rich and poor, developed and developing worlds, we must not lose heart, it is the challenge of our time and of our world - but we cannot stop working, because literally everything depends on our success.
I thank you, and may you travel well back to your sites of hard labour!
Source Department (http://www.labour.gov.za)
Source: Department of Labour
Title: Mdladlana: Closing address at National Skills Development Conference
CLOSING ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF LABOUR, MMS MDLADLANA, AT THE NATIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE, 16 October 2003
Programme Director, honourable Members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, employer, trade union, community and training provider organisation representatives, friends from other South African government departments, professional bodies and the media, as this third National Skills Conference draws to a close there are only a few more things left to be said.
Our President, his Excellency Thabo Mbeki, plotted the path ahead at the Growth and Development Summit and it is up to us now to take the baton and run the race. It's a race we all agreed to run, and we agreed that we'd do it together. As with any exercise, we're going to get fitter as we go - indeed we're already witnessing the benefits of the work we've done to date. If we win, we'll know that we have contributed to taking our country closer to that vision of South Africa that we all share. The honour of that alone should drive us forward - together knowing that at the end, when we look back, we'll feel the pride of knowing it was a job well done - that feeling of Vhutsila!
But of course the road ahead is not going to be without its challenges. If we look forward to the rest of this year and the next one, we know that on top of the work we are already doing, there are areas in which we have to do more. At this Conference we've discussed the three areas in which we have to stretch further if we are going to make our targets - in ABET, in learnerships and across all our work, in the equity targets. No doubt it will be challenging.
But let me say, difficult though these challenges may be, I expect the SETAs and my own Department to take up the challenge.
And to SETAs, in so many areas you have done so well. But as we move from an environment of voluntary Memoranda of Understanding to legally binding Service Level Agreements under the new Skills Development Amendment Bill, know that I will be looking to my Department to ensure that unspent funds are targeted and spent on the priorities we have together identified, both in the National Skills Development Strategy as well as at the Growth and Development Summit. At this point I shall not prescribe the exact nature of this spending, and will leave it to SETA Boards to direct, but if the funds remain unspent and critical targets are left unmet, know that I will not stand aside idle. And know too that I will take these matters into consideration when reconstituting the SETAs in March 2005.
And whilst on the matter of the reconstitution of the SETAs let me say unequivocally, that I do not envisage a major change of landscape in this process. For the majority of SETAs who have shown the capacity to perform the tasks spelt out in the Act, you face an almost certain future. But it would be negligent of me if I were not to say to the isolated few who are falling behind, who persistently fail to address leadership problems and who think that quibbling at board or staff level is more important than serving our people - your days are numbered. And to the employers and unions who sit on these Boards, I say, remember your commitment at the Growth and Development Summit - you agreed to "accept responsibility for the performance of SETAs" and you undertook "to take active steps to address problems and accelerate delivery by these institutions". (Agreement 4.6.2) - now is the time to act on these undertakings.
The National Skills Authority certainly has its work cut out for it - as there are a number of major areas of work that need to be delivered to me next year and they are:
1. Advice on the reconstitution of SETAs - as I have just outlined
2. Advice on the regulations required by the Amendments to the Skills Development Act
3. Advice on the new National Skills Development Strategy - much discussed at this Conference
4. Advice on the National Qualifications Framework Task Team Consultation Report.
In relation to the NQF I have received your request for an extension and let me save time and say that I have consulted with my colleague, Minister Asmal, and we have agreed to give the National Skills Authority, together with its organised constituencies, an extension of time - to the end of November. A formal presentation both by the individual constituencies as well as the National Skills Authority to the Task Team will be expected no later than the 5 December 2003.
This constitutes a significant workload - but I have confidence in your leadership in these matters Dr Baloyi and in the quality of the team you are leading. I know that my Department is available to provide support wherever required and that as the Department has now completed its internal restructuring process, we believe that the vacancies in the Secretariat that serves you will be filled shortly. But constituency structures will have to help - as the NSA is ultimately only as good as the inputs you bring. I trust too that the partnership between the NSA and the Department will be strengthened by the necessity to share this considerable load!
I appreciate that as the National Skills Authority does its work it will be calling on others to make inputs and to attend workshops and to contribute comments to various draft documents. I know too that this will further strain your capacity to deliver on your core implementation obligations. This is a challenge that we need to manage by good planning, good preparation and discipline with regards to keeping to timelines and paying attention to quality.
But I urge you to find a way to stay focused on delivery and to look at all these policy, institutional and strategy matters through the lens of implementation - what will help to accelerate "skills for productive citizenship for all" - not only in theory, but in practice and soon! They are all about the same thing in the end - finding the most efficient ways of getting the right services to those who need them quickly- and then checking back to see that those we set out to serve are happy with our service and have enjoyed real benefits as a result of our efforts.
We have just heard from our social partners that there is much to celebrate, but many problems to solve - some easy, others rather intractable - but we'll have to take them one step at a time - stay open and listen carefully to one another. We've done it many times before - our experience has taught us how - let's hope that the lessons we have learnt before will mean that we can progress more quickly now. After all we are all under pressure to deliver to our constituencies and our people are getting less tolerant of the talk, they want training to happen and they want it now.
But let us not drown under the problems - there will always be more to do. We have done enormously well - we've met a third of our targets, and the majority of the rest are well within reach. The Implementation Report tabled at this conference testifies to the hard work that is taking place all over the country and this is extremely good. I urge you to keep it up and wherever possible, work smarter if harder is not possible, and both harder and smarter if it is possible to do so.
And in closing let me remind you that the International Labour Organisation will be finalising a new resolution on Human Resources Development and Training at its Conference in Geneva next year. The draft resolution has already been widely debated and I believe a copy has been included in your packs for ease of reference. It is worth a read, because it shows beyond any shadow of doubt that we are not alone in the many challenges we face. In many instances they are mirrored very closely on the international agenda. And as we struggle to bridge the divides of rich and poor, developed and developing worlds, we must not lose heart, it is the challenge of our time and of our world - but we cannot stop working, because literally everything depends on our success.
I thank you, and may you travel well back to your sites of hard labour!
Source Department (http://www.labour.gov.za)
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