Date: 25/07/2006
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Provincial Skills Development Conference
Speech by the North West premier Me E Molewa, at the Provincial Skills Development Conference, Klerksdorp civic centre
Programme Director
Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development and Tourism, Honourable Darkie Africa
Mayor of Matlosane Local Municipality, Cllr T S Dodovu
Director-General of the North West Provincial Administration, Dr Manana Bakane-Tuoane
Deputy Directors-General Messrs Solly Bokaba and Danie Schoeman
Heads of Departments and Senior Managers present
Representatives from the Department of Labour Representatives from the Departments of Education, Science and Technology, and Public Service and Administration
Representatives from the private sector, organised labour and organs of civil society present
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a special honour for me to address this first day of our Provincial Skills Development Conference whose appropriate theme is “Skills for Accelerated Growth and Development”.
I would like to begin by thanking all those who have been working tirelessly to ensure that as a province we hold this critical conference, in particular the Skills Development and Training Working Group of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS).
I am most certain that all of us gathered here do hold the skills development and training in our province so dear in our hearts that everyday we look for sound sustainable solutions that will ensure our province and country acquire the necessary skills required by our economic growth.
I am very heartened to note that both the theme of this conference and the deliberations that will ensue speak directly to the critical imperative of developing skills that are especially necessary for the success of our Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
In particular, the conference will have to assist us in determining and developing those scarce and critical skills without which our accelerated growth and development AsgiSA will not succeed.
It is therefore important that this conference dedicates a considerable deal of time and energy to addressing specific implications for skills development in relation to AsgiSA and its programme of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).
Addressing the JIPSA launch in March this year, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka had this to say about skills development in our country:
“Nothing short of a skills revolution by a nation united will extricate us from the (skills) crisis we face. We are addressing logjams, some of which are systemic and therefore in some cases entrenched even in the post apartheid South Africa. The systemic natures of some of our challenges undermine our excellent new policies but if we have a nation that is united in partnership we can reverse the trend with regard to skills and give our policies a chance to succeed in the medium to long term.”
Our province is already in the throes of the skills revolution that the Deputy President is referring to. In June last year the North West Provincial Government together with the North West Regional Office of the Department of Labour successfully hosted the Provincial Skills Development Conference in which the Five-Year Skills Framework for the province was developed.
Among other things, this Skills Framework for the North West province stipulates skills development interventions and targets for the province in relation to the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) 2005 – 2010 as well as in relation to our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) 2014.
This Conference is therefore a critical juncture at which we pause in order to examine the road we have travelled thus far, to consider the impact of our interventions and to identify loopholes as well as come up with ways of accelerating the skills revolution we have started.
Therefore, we would not have done justice in this conference if we fail to ask why, in the face of unprecedented economic growth of our country, we still have unacceptably high levels of unemployment and poverty?
What are we doing and what can we do better to ensure that this amazing growth of our economy is shared fairly among the citizens?
When Government introduced AsgiSA in July last year, we had made the firm realisation that the most fatal constraint to the goal of shared growth in our province and in the country is the shortage of skills.
We have no hope of succeeding in achieving the growth rate of 6% or more if we do not urgently overcome the shortage of suitable skilled labour in our province.
Although the challenge of skills development is by no means unique to our province, it is important that we look for interventions that will exploit the peculiar circumstances of our economy, our infrastructure and the human capital of our province.
We need to ask what, in the short term, is our province offering by way of high-level engineering skills for network industries? What is the state of our city, urban, rural and regional planning skills?
What about artisan, apprenticeship and technical skills for infrastructure needs and construction? How are we as a province managing our Healthcare and Education facilities? Are we making the necessary interventions and to what extent are we succeeding or failing in addressing skills challenges in Information Communication Technology (ICT), mathematics, science and language competence?
Are we optimally utilising our retirees, our mentors and volunteers to areas of need such as our municipalities? Are our education institutions and the private sector coming on board to assist us with graduate placements to fast-track people who have qualifications but lack the required experience? What are we collectively doing to improve the quality of education in our schools?
I believe that these are all critical questions that this conference must begin to answer. I am further convinced that our skills development must lay particular emphasis on assisting poorer schools in our province and multiplying our efforts to support mathematics, science and Information Communication Technology.
In this regard, we must pay critical attention to what goes on in our schools. In particular, we must regard our teachers as a scarce and priority skill that must be developed, among other things.
The conference will also have to produce a credible programme with clear targets and timeframes for the province, with specific reference to the implications for AsgiSA and JIPSA as I have mentioned.
I can never exhaust from this platform the myriad of challenges facing us if we are to achieve the skills revolution that Deputy President says our country needs. But I am certain that we have assembled here for the next three days an army of soldiers, commanders and volunteers all ready to take us into the next gear of our skills revolution in the province. Victory is therefore certain!
In conclusion, I would like to wish this conference success in its deliberations, foresight in its resolutions and unflinching determination in implementing the programme to address the skills shortage in our province and our country.
I have no doubt that the steps we take today and tomorrow, are critical stepping stones to a future characterised by shared growth and a prosperous North West province.
May you have a successful Provincial Skills Development Conference.
I thank you.
Issued by: North West Provincial Government
25 July 2006
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Provincial Skills Development Conference
Speech by the North West premier Me E Molewa, at the Provincial Skills Development Conference, Klerksdorp civic centre
Programme Director
Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development and Tourism, Honourable Darkie Africa
Mayor of Matlosane Local Municipality, Cllr T S Dodovu
Director-General of the North West Provincial Administration, Dr Manana Bakane-Tuoane
Deputy Directors-General Messrs Solly Bokaba and Danie Schoeman
Heads of Departments and Senior Managers present
Representatives from the Department of Labour Representatives from the Departments of Education, Science and Technology, and Public Service and Administration
Representatives from the private sector, organised labour and organs of civil society present
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a special honour for me to address this first day of our Provincial Skills Development Conference whose appropriate theme is “Skills for Accelerated Growth and Development”.
I would like to begin by thanking all those who have been working tirelessly to ensure that as a province we hold this critical conference, in particular the Skills Development and Training Working Group of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS).
I am most certain that all of us gathered here do hold the skills development and training in our province so dear in our hearts that everyday we look for sound sustainable solutions that will ensure our province and country acquire the necessary skills required by our economic growth.
I am very heartened to note that both the theme of this conference and the deliberations that will ensue speak directly to the critical imperative of developing skills that are especially necessary for the success of our Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
In particular, the conference will have to assist us in determining and developing those scarce and critical skills without which our accelerated growth and development AsgiSA will not succeed.
It is therefore important that this conference dedicates a considerable deal of time and energy to addressing specific implications for skills development in relation to AsgiSA and its programme of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).
Addressing the JIPSA launch in March this year, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka had this to say about skills development in our country:
“Nothing short of a skills revolution by a nation united will extricate us from the (skills) crisis we face. We are addressing logjams, some of which are systemic and therefore in some cases entrenched even in the post apartheid South Africa. The systemic natures of some of our challenges undermine our excellent new policies but if we have a nation that is united in partnership we can reverse the trend with regard to skills and give our policies a chance to succeed in the medium to long term.”
Our province is already in the throes of the skills revolution that the Deputy President is referring to. In June last year the North West Provincial Government together with the North West Regional Office of the Department of Labour successfully hosted the Provincial Skills Development Conference in which the Five-Year Skills Framework for the province was developed.
Among other things, this Skills Framework for the North West province stipulates skills development interventions and targets for the province in relation to the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) 2005 – 2010 as well as in relation to our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) 2014.
This Conference is therefore a critical juncture at which we pause in order to examine the road we have travelled thus far, to consider the impact of our interventions and to identify loopholes as well as come up with ways of accelerating the skills revolution we have started.
Therefore, we would not have done justice in this conference if we fail to ask why, in the face of unprecedented economic growth of our country, we still have unacceptably high levels of unemployment and poverty?
What are we doing and what can we do better to ensure that this amazing growth of our economy is shared fairly among the citizens?
When Government introduced AsgiSA in July last year, we had made the firm realisation that the most fatal constraint to the goal of shared growth in our province and in the country is the shortage of skills.
We have no hope of succeeding in achieving the growth rate of 6% or more if we do not urgently overcome the shortage of suitable skilled labour in our province.
Although the challenge of skills development is by no means unique to our province, it is important that we look for interventions that will exploit the peculiar circumstances of our economy, our infrastructure and the human capital of our province.
We need to ask what, in the short term, is our province offering by way of high-level engineering skills for network industries? What is the state of our city, urban, rural and regional planning skills?
What about artisan, apprenticeship and technical skills for infrastructure needs and construction? How are we as a province managing our Healthcare and Education facilities? Are we making the necessary interventions and to what extent are we succeeding or failing in addressing skills challenges in Information Communication Technology (ICT), mathematics, science and language competence?
Are we optimally utilising our retirees, our mentors and volunteers to areas of need such as our municipalities? Are our education institutions and the private sector coming on board to assist us with graduate placements to fast-track people who have qualifications but lack the required experience? What are we collectively doing to improve the quality of education in our schools?
I believe that these are all critical questions that this conference must begin to answer. I am further convinced that our skills development must lay particular emphasis on assisting poorer schools in our province and multiplying our efforts to support mathematics, science and Information Communication Technology.
In this regard, we must pay critical attention to what goes on in our schools. In particular, we must regard our teachers as a scarce and priority skill that must be developed, among other things.
The conference will also have to produce a credible programme with clear targets and timeframes for the province, with specific reference to the implications for AsgiSA and JIPSA as I have mentioned.
I can never exhaust from this platform the myriad of challenges facing us if we are to achieve the skills revolution that Deputy President says our country needs. But I am certain that we have assembled here for the next three days an army of soldiers, commanders and volunteers all ready to take us into the next gear of our skills revolution in the province. Victory is therefore certain!
In conclusion, I would like to wish this conference success in its deliberations, foresight in its resolutions and unflinching determination in implementing the programme to address the skills shortage in our province and our country.
I have no doubt that the steps we take today and tomorrow, are critical stepping stones to a future characterised by shared growth and a prosperous North West province.
May you have a successful Provincial Skills Development Conference.
I thank you.
Issued by: North West Provincial Government
25 July 2006
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