Date: 05/04/2004
Source: Department of Labour
Title: M Mdladlana: Launch of CHIETA SETA Learnerships Programme
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF LABOUR ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE MAJOR LEARNERSHIPS PROGRAMME: THE CHEMICAL SECTOR WITH THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES SETA (CHIETA), Park Hyatt Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 5 April 2004
Programme Director, Ms Manene Samela, Members of the National Skills Authority and Deputy Chair person of the CHIETA Board, CEO of Sasol, Mr Peter Cox; CHIETA Chairperson, Mr Donald O' Connor; other members of the SETA and industry, honoured guests.
It is clear to me and I hope it is clear to you that the skills revolution that I launched in 2001 is working. It is working here today. It is working for you, both industry players and learners. It is also therefore working for our country. Today is indeed a day for celebration.
Some time ago, my colleague, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, the Honourable Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka, called for a Clean Fuels Strategy to be implemented by 2006. There were those in industry who said that this would not be possible because the skills were not in place for the construction required infrastructure to support this strategy. Studies were conducted that gave the number of the shortfall at several thousand skilled workers as well as a significant number at the semi professional level and it was predicted that the shortage would have to be met by getting skilled people from abroad to do this work for us, if we were indeed to meet our target date. Alarm bells were ringing everywhere.
Then two important players got to hear about the problem. The Department of Labour and the Chemicals Industries Education and Training Authority. These players argued that if only we could all get together, the problem could be tackled and solved. Industry folk were sceptical -"it'll have to happen fast" they said, " very fast, and they clearly did not think that the cumbersome government machine could do anything of the sort. But they were wrong - indeed a lot of the work was already done.
From our side, we had already put into place two critical pieces of policy: the first was the learnership framework, and the second was the notion of the Employment and Skills Development Lead Employers:
* The learnership framework was built on the established apprenticeship framework-where learners are given both theoretical and practical training, and are then assessed against occupational standards to ensure that they are indeed competent to do the work. The reason learnerships were introduced was to provide a similar type of training for the many new occupations that had emerged as a result of new technology and new services.
* The idea of having 'lead employer' builds on the apprenticeship and learnership. It is a simple idea-whereas in the past there was a single employer for each apprentice or learner, the idea of a ' lead employer' opens up the possibility of there being several employers involved in the training of a single person.
The job of the lead employer is to rotate the learner through the workplaces of the other employers, but at the same time ensuring that they get all the relevant training that they need. This makes a huge amount of the sense for small employers who want to be involved in training, but who cannot offer the full range of learning experiences required for the learner to become fully qualified.
Of course, over and above these ideas, we also had already created SETAs and introduce the skills levy. The existence of the Chemical Industries SETA, with its team of dedicated professionals meant that there were people who could be dedicated to do the work when the call came. And I believe that indeed, the CHIETA dedicated several of its staff members exclusively to this work to get the job done quickly. And the existence of the skills levy meant that there was money that could be quickly mobilized in support of the call and in this regard I'm informed that the SETA Board has approved that a R25 000 grant will be paid to the lead employer for each of the 1000 learners that will be participating in the programme over time.
If these things had not already been in place, it would have been very difficult to see the turn-around time that we have in fact seen in this case.
But this capability needed to be mobilized in support of growth and development to realize its potential. And industry has certainly played its part in this regard. There has been the contribution of both the employer and the trade union leaders on the CHIETA Board-who had the vision to respond quickly to this imperative, and I salute you for this. And then I believe that the companies that will be benefiting have also actively helped to make this happen. And although I am in danger of upsetting some by naming others, let me mention SASOL SynFuels whom I believe allocated a Marketing Specialist to support this programme.
But more generally I'm told that in order to accelerate the management and the development of the needed contract worker resources, the Oil, Gas and Manufacturing sub-sector, namely Calref, PetroSA, SAPREF, Engen, Natref, Infrachem and the Sasol group, have played an active part with the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority to implement this project to address the skills needed for the construction of infrastructure due to begin shortly and that will continue through to 2010.
This contract -between government and the private sector is surely at the heart of what we are celebrating here today. This is the kind of contract that we should all enter into as South Africans-each of us with one another; government and each citizen, community and sector of society-together to build a better South Africa. Skills Development cannot be carried out by government alone. Together with each of us playing our part-we have a real, concrete benefit for our country. This is surely well worth celebrating today.
And now let me turn to the learners who are surely the main beneficiaries of this work we have all done. There are to be a thousand by the end of May, I am told, but 400 were signed on in Secunda on Thursday 1st April this week. Some of these learners were already working in the industry, but will be upgraded to meet the challenges of the work that lies ahead, and others are unemployed learners coming into the industry for the first time. So, the " Shutdown, Maintenance and Construction" project is now well underway.
I am pleased to hear that most of the learning opportunities will be given to black people, as there can be little doubt that this group has been discriminated against in the past. Evidence of this discrimination lies in the fact that black people are over-represented at the operator levels and seriously under-represented in all the levels above operator, especially in high-level technical skills. This, by the way, is true not only in this sector, but across the economy, according to research commissioned by the Employment Equity Commission and which I made public last year and which is why the employment Equity legislation is so important.
But beyond Employment Equity, this project will also be actively supporting Black Economic Empowerment I believe by including amongst those being trained BEE contractors already in business in the sector. This is an interesting and important dimension of this initiative and I'll be interested to hear from these firms in what ways it is actually supporting their businesses. If it works well, it may well prove to be a model for others.
It is certainly a very interesting idea that the industry itself is using shared resources to invest in improving the capacity of these contractors to work competitively in the sector. I certainly trust that the industry will then ensure that future procurement procedures give these firms a fair chance at securing contracts from them. Only if this happens will the investment we are making into training today become sustainable in the longer term.
As I draw to a close, let me turn to the service providers who will be delivering the training and support to these learners. You know, I was told by the Southern African Institute of Welding some time ago, that there has been a discernable decline in the quality of work done by welders in our country, indeed, it was rather shocking to me that they said that as much as half of the work done had to be re-done again, because it had not been done to the required quality standards first time round. This must surely be an extraordinary waste of time and must inevitably increase costs. I think that this is a matter of serious concern, and its correction rests heavily with you. It is afterall only if people are well taught that will they have the chance of learning 'how to do things right first time'.
Surely, this question of quality is a key dimension of our growth and development agenda and we shirk it at our peril. So, let me say again, we are depending on you to contribute to the improvement of standards, and I'm sure you will not let us down.
I am delighted to see that amongst the service providers being used on this project are public Further Education and Training Institutions. Surely, project work such as this work goes to the core of your mandate-and it is vital that the investment that has been made by the pubic into your institution (even if you say that not enough has been invested) is realized. This is a wonderful example too of a SETA working together with the public providers, and I hope to see more of this in the years ahead. This partnership could really begin to take our skills development agenda to scale if we get it right. Maybe we'll learn more about how to do this well from this project, I certainly hope so!
Other SETA's are also involved and are being co-ordinated by the CHIETA-particularly the Construction SETA, the Energy SETA, the Manufacturing and Related Services SETA as well as Service SETA.
This too is an important dimension of this project, as so much of our work is inevitably inter-sectoral. This too is something that we will watch with interest.
And to the Shutdown Network Forum that is acting as the lead employer in this case-so much rests on you-indeed on all of the things that we have already spoken about, I can only wish you well and trust that you will lead from the front.
For further inquiries contact:
Snuki Zikalala
Cell: 082 809 3195
Issued by: Department of Labour
5 April 2004
Source: Department of Labour
Title: M Mdladlana: Launch of CHIETA SETA Learnerships Programme
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF LABOUR ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE MAJOR LEARNERSHIPS PROGRAMME: THE CHEMICAL SECTOR WITH THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES SETA (CHIETA), Park Hyatt Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 5 April 2004
Programme Director, Ms Manene Samela, Members of the National Skills Authority and Deputy Chair person of the CHIETA Board, CEO of Sasol, Mr Peter Cox; CHIETA Chairperson, Mr Donald O' Connor; other members of the SETA and industry, honoured guests.
It is clear to me and I hope it is clear to you that the skills revolution that I launched in 2001 is working. It is working here today. It is working for you, both industry players and learners. It is also therefore working for our country. Today is indeed a day for celebration.
Some time ago, my colleague, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, the Honourable Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka, called for a Clean Fuels Strategy to be implemented by 2006. There were those in industry who said that this would not be possible because the skills were not in place for the construction required infrastructure to support this strategy. Studies were conducted that gave the number of the shortfall at several thousand skilled workers as well as a significant number at the semi professional level and it was predicted that the shortage would have to be met by getting skilled people from abroad to do this work for us, if we were indeed to meet our target date. Alarm bells were ringing everywhere.
Then two important players got to hear about the problem. The Department of Labour and the Chemicals Industries Education and Training Authority. These players argued that if only we could all get together, the problem could be tackled and solved. Industry folk were sceptical -"it'll have to happen fast" they said, " very fast, and they clearly did not think that the cumbersome government machine could do anything of the sort. But they were wrong - indeed a lot of the work was already done.
From our side, we had already put into place two critical pieces of policy: the first was the learnership framework, and the second was the notion of the Employment and Skills Development Lead Employers:
* The learnership framework was built on the established apprenticeship framework-where learners are given both theoretical and practical training, and are then assessed against occupational standards to ensure that they are indeed competent to do the work. The reason learnerships were introduced was to provide a similar type of training for the many new occupations that had emerged as a result of new technology and new services.
* The idea of having 'lead employer' builds on the apprenticeship and learnership. It is a simple idea-whereas in the past there was a single employer for each apprentice or learner, the idea of a ' lead employer' opens up the possibility of there being several employers involved in the training of a single person.
The job of the lead employer is to rotate the learner through the workplaces of the other employers, but at the same time ensuring that they get all the relevant training that they need. This makes a huge amount of the sense for small employers who want to be involved in training, but who cannot offer the full range of learning experiences required for the learner to become fully qualified.
Of course, over and above these ideas, we also had already created SETAs and introduce the skills levy. The existence of the Chemical Industries SETA, with its team of dedicated professionals meant that there were people who could be dedicated to do the work when the call came. And I believe that indeed, the CHIETA dedicated several of its staff members exclusively to this work to get the job done quickly. And the existence of the skills levy meant that there was money that could be quickly mobilized in support of the call and in this regard I'm informed that the SETA Board has approved that a R25 000 grant will be paid to the lead employer for each of the 1000 learners that will be participating in the programme over time.
If these things had not already been in place, it would have been very difficult to see the turn-around time that we have in fact seen in this case.
But this capability needed to be mobilized in support of growth and development to realize its potential. And industry has certainly played its part in this regard. There has been the contribution of both the employer and the trade union leaders on the CHIETA Board-who had the vision to respond quickly to this imperative, and I salute you for this. And then I believe that the companies that will be benefiting have also actively helped to make this happen. And although I am in danger of upsetting some by naming others, let me mention SASOL SynFuels whom I believe allocated a Marketing Specialist to support this programme.
But more generally I'm told that in order to accelerate the management and the development of the needed contract worker resources, the Oil, Gas and Manufacturing sub-sector, namely Calref, PetroSA, SAPREF, Engen, Natref, Infrachem and the Sasol group, have played an active part with the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority to implement this project to address the skills needed for the construction of infrastructure due to begin shortly and that will continue through to 2010.
This contract -between government and the private sector is surely at the heart of what we are celebrating here today. This is the kind of contract that we should all enter into as South Africans-each of us with one another; government and each citizen, community and sector of society-together to build a better South Africa. Skills Development cannot be carried out by government alone. Together with each of us playing our part-we have a real, concrete benefit for our country. This is surely well worth celebrating today.
And now let me turn to the learners who are surely the main beneficiaries of this work we have all done. There are to be a thousand by the end of May, I am told, but 400 were signed on in Secunda on Thursday 1st April this week. Some of these learners were already working in the industry, but will be upgraded to meet the challenges of the work that lies ahead, and others are unemployed learners coming into the industry for the first time. So, the " Shutdown, Maintenance and Construction" project is now well underway.
I am pleased to hear that most of the learning opportunities will be given to black people, as there can be little doubt that this group has been discriminated against in the past. Evidence of this discrimination lies in the fact that black people are over-represented at the operator levels and seriously under-represented in all the levels above operator, especially in high-level technical skills. This, by the way, is true not only in this sector, but across the economy, according to research commissioned by the Employment Equity Commission and which I made public last year and which is why the employment Equity legislation is so important.
But beyond Employment Equity, this project will also be actively supporting Black Economic Empowerment I believe by including amongst those being trained BEE contractors already in business in the sector. This is an interesting and important dimension of this initiative and I'll be interested to hear from these firms in what ways it is actually supporting their businesses. If it works well, it may well prove to be a model for others.
It is certainly a very interesting idea that the industry itself is using shared resources to invest in improving the capacity of these contractors to work competitively in the sector. I certainly trust that the industry will then ensure that future procurement procedures give these firms a fair chance at securing contracts from them. Only if this happens will the investment we are making into training today become sustainable in the longer term.
As I draw to a close, let me turn to the service providers who will be delivering the training and support to these learners. You know, I was told by the Southern African Institute of Welding some time ago, that there has been a discernable decline in the quality of work done by welders in our country, indeed, it was rather shocking to me that they said that as much as half of the work done had to be re-done again, because it had not been done to the required quality standards first time round. This must surely be an extraordinary waste of time and must inevitably increase costs. I think that this is a matter of serious concern, and its correction rests heavily with you. It is afterall only if people are well taught that will they have the chance of learning 'how to do things right first time'.
Surely, this question of quality is a key dimension of our growth and development agenda and we shirk it at our peril. So, let me say again, we are depending on you to contribute to the improvement of standards, and I'm sure you will not let us down.
I am delighted to see that amongst the service providers being used on this project are public Further Education and Training Institutions. Surely, project work such as this work goes to the core of your mandate-and it is vital that the investment that has been made by the pubic into your institution (even if you say that not enough has been invested) is realized. This is a wonderful example too of a SETA working together with the public providers, and I hope to see more of this in the years ahead. This partnership could really begin to take our skills development agenda to scale if we get it right. Maybe we'll learn more about how to do this well from this project, I certainly hope so!
Other SETA's are also involved and are being co-ordinated by the CHIETA-particularly the Construction SETA, the Energy SETA, the Manufacturing and Related Services SETA as well as Service SETA.
This too is an important dimension of this project, as so much of our work is inevitably inter-sectoral. This too is something that we will watch with interest.
And to the Shutdown Network Forum that is acting as the lead employer in this case-so much rests on you-indeed on all of the things that we have already spoken about, I can only wish you well and trust that you will lead from the front.
For further inquiries contact:
Snuki Zikalala
Cell: 082 809 3195
Issued by: Department of Labour
5 April 2004
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