The National Skills Authority (NSA) is established in terms of Chapter 2 of Skill Development

Act 97 of 1998 to advice the Minister on skills development matters as per the Act. The NSA

disassociates itself from the media statement made in the past weeks on the revised SETA

constitutions by one of its members. It has to be noted that the issue relating to the Minister’s

consultation with the NSA was raised as a concern with him and was later resolved and

closed. The NSA is made up of members that are drawn widely from constituencies which

may have own views on the skills development issues however, the public should note that

in terms of the NSA resolution on official public communication, the spokesperson remains

the Chairperson only.

The NSA advised the Minister on key 5 principles from which the main changes in the

constitution model were based, and these were:

. Appointment of an independent chairperson of the SETA Board

. The size of the SETA Board

. Ministerial appointees

. Conflict of interest

. Appointment of SETA CEOs

The NSA held a meeting on 29 March 2011 and all its members present in that meeting fully

supported these principles and also highlighted areas for which the Minister should give due

consideration when implementing the SETA constitution. The NSA supports and remains

committed to the transformation of the Skills Development system and in particular the

improvement of performance and governance of the SETAs as attested to by the SINGICI

Report and by other research reports. It further confirmed that all role-players in the skills

development and in particular the SETAs should know it will not be business as usual if the

goals of the National Development Strategy (NSDS III) are to be realised.

The NSA would like to thank all skills development stakeholders and the general public for

their active and passionate participation during the development of the NSDS III as well as

the valuable inputs made in the configuration of the new Seta Landscape. A platform in the

form of the Skills conference is envisaged in the coming months to afford stakeholders an

opportunity to deepen understanding on the task lying ahead of us as well as to celebrate

the gains made.