Speech by Gauteng MEC for Local Government Qedani Mahlangu at the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) Gauteng and national conference

Distinguished guests
Representatives from government departments
Representatives from parastatals
Ladies and gentlemen

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing me this great honour of standing before you today to speak to you about Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and the role of the Gauteng Local government in this national endeavour.

AsgiSA and local government

AsgiSA is a programme which was initiated on National Level of government, but it still has direct bearing on what happens at local level, due to this being the centre of service delivery to communities.

Skills programmes and learnerships became the order of the day, replacing apprenticeships. Unfortunately, this did not go as smoothly and well as had been anticipated, due to certain factors. Firstly, there has been a delay in the implementation of the learnerships; there was restructured content together with a lack of quality control which leads to many practitioners not being able to deal with the complex requirements of the new system. This also had an impact on the operating and maintaining of municipal infrastructure.

Due to municipalities facing current growth increases and demands for municipal skills and infrastructure, it was realised that more traditionally trained artisans are required in local government. Therefore, plans are being put in place to increase the number of registered artisans on an annual basis.

To ensure that artisans receive suitable and adequate new and updated skills, the training process for artisans needs to be hands on training in training centres and/or trade schools together with workplace training under the guidance of a registered artisan/journeyman.

Why the focus on local government?

The core function of local government is that of service delivery to people and communities. Without services like water and electricity, there is very little chance of communities being able to function at all. Service delivery does not only mean the supplying of new infrastructure which is generally designed and constructed to municipal specifications by private sector. It also means the operating and maintaining of existing structures, which should fall under that of municipal maintenance.

Specific skills that are required are:

* heavy current electricians: to keep the distribution and transmission systems operational
* water servicemen and plumbers: to keep the water and sanitation networks in working order
* fitters and tuners, millwrights, welders, water care workers and process controllers: to operate and maintain treatment works
* carpenters and bricklayers: to work as handymen and maintain municipal properties and handle shuttering, concrete and brickwork where needed such as culverts, drains and manholes
* mechanics, machine operators and drivers: to keep fleets operational and address waste and solid waste collection, road construction and maintenance, electricity maintenance etc.

To service local government, an adequate supply of appropriate qualified artisans and semi-skilled workers are needed. There are unfortunately problems in this regard. They are as follows:

* Vacancies

Vacancies in municipalities are reported to be in the region of 34%, with the three highest vacancy categories being instrument mechanic, millwright and painters (all in the 60% range). Due to budget constraints and the inability to attract artisans into local government, many posts have been frozen and have been removed from municipal organograms, implying that the skills are needed.

Another factor which needs to be taken into account was the route of promotion for artisan, which used to be to foremen and superintendent. With the reduction in artisan numbers, these managerial posts remain largely unfilled, or tend to be filled by inexperienced or inappropriately qualified staff, which in turn is detriment to the sustainability of service delivery.

Other factors that contribute to these vacancies are:

* Budget constraints: The limit of 32% of income is allowed to be spent on salaries in local government. This means that many municipalities cannot afford to employ sufficient technical staff. Municipalities need to realise that even though they might be managing on saving money when it comes to salaries, they might be building up repair bills which far exceed the cost of training and hiring artisans, as infrastructure is not maintained and prematurely reaches the end of its functional line.
* Salaries: The salary scales for most artisans in local government are below the levels which they would receive in the private sector, making it more difficult to attract artisans with the necessary skills and knowledge into local government.
* National shortages: The reduction in artisan training over the last 20 years has resulted in a national shortage which reduces the number available to enter local government.

Training approach

After demarcation this became known as learnerships. To give a brief overview of the difference between the two aspects, some of the fundamental differences are listed.

* With artisan training, standard content was delivered nationally, whereas with learnerships, each service provider has to develop their own course.
* With artisan training, courses of set duration were delivered through nationally controlled institutions whereas with learnerships, once courses are accredited, there is little or no checking on whether the courses are being followed, and many service providers reduce training to a minimum to get more learners in and make more money.
* With artisan training, lecturers were required to have at least the qualification in which they were training and a set number of years experience Currently with learnership, lecturers and assessors are assessed on a portfolio of evidence and often those considering these submissions are not qualified to judge. There have been cases of medical doctors teaching bricklaying etc.
* With artisan training, practical experience was gained in institutions so apprentices could carry out basic tasks. Currently, al practical experience is the responsibility of the employer.
* Apprenticeships were done in the workplace under a qualified artisan, whereas with learnerships there is no such requirement.
* The duration of artisan training was adequate to achieve most, if not all, of the competencies. With learnerships, courses are often very short with a minimal amount of theory being covered before a learner gets to site.
* With artisan training, qualifications were only rewarded after all theory; practical training and examinations were completed and passed. Nowadays, certificates are issues after achieving each unit standard or semester. Few learners complete all the units to develop skills comparable with artisans, but they have certification to indicate that they have developed skills in the field. The industry has found many of these to be inadequate to the practical work that is required to conduct a job.
* With artisan training, standard national tests with experienced artisans as examiners were used, testing was very strict, and this led to the industry knowing what to expect when someone qualified as an artisan. With learnerships, certificates are issued too easily and competence levels are not well understood by industry and are over sold by the learner.

It therefore becomes clear that more effort needs to be expended to improve the quality and control of the learnership route for skills training, and that the old apprenticeship model, albeit with updated material needs to be reintroduced.

This leads us to another hiccup in the process of training artisans, the demise of training programmes of the past.

Training centres

Before the municipal demarcation took place prior to 2000, approximately 18 municipalities had Municipal Training Centres which were governed by the Local government Training Board and received their funding from municipalities, with some funding coming from the board. However, after the demarcation, some of the training centres were disestablished. This disestablishment of training venues therefore make it difficult for skills development (in line with AsgiSA) to take place.

A few training centres are still in existence and should therefore be used to their full advantage. These centres must be funded in order for them to increase their capacity, together with funding those which have been disestablished. The centres which are still functioning in Gauteng are:

* Randfontein
* Ekurhuleni

Sector Education and Training Authority (Setas)

With the birth of Seta, the responsibility of training was transferred from employer bodies to appointed service providers. While the new system was in the process of being designed, little or no training took place in any form. This leads to the marked drop in artisan registrations after 2000.

A new process was adopted, namely that of Learnerships, which allowed stepwise qualifications, but demanded that all practical training take place in the working environment at the workplace. The problem with this was that few municipalities had the needed capacity to offer practical training from scratch, which meant that only a limited number of workers were taken on board.

The economy

A trend that became the norm over the last few years was that of 'downsizing', where municipalities and organisations would only ensure they retain their high level employees who were seen as the most productive and with highly experienced. In response to this, some training centres had to be closed down due to a lack of demand.

Training of artisans by local government institutions

At present, the key responsibility of local government with regards to artisan training heavy current electricians and water servicemen, training an additional 1 600 of both these professions over the next three to five years.

At present, around 300 artisans are being trained at municipal training centres on an annual basis. Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA) has however set itself the target of increasing this number by 1 200, therefore training 1 500 per annum.

Initially, an intake of 500 artisans will be considered. Although this might sound like a high enough number, there are several factors which one must take into consideration that might affect this total number negatively. The losses of these numbers can be attributed to:

* artisans retiring soon (at least 3 to 4% will retire per annum for the next 10 years
* leaving government employment due to low salaries, difficult working conditions
* retire due to medical reasons (death or sickness)

Therefore it is clear that expanded training is essential to develop and extend the pool of skills needed. This in turn would be an invaluable investment into the future and wellbeing of local government in terms of development, operations and maintenance.

Supervision and workplace coaching/training

An urgent need which has been identified is the need for coaches to aid in supervising apprentices to develop workplace skills. The reason for this is that over time, the availability of dedicated experienced artisans is diminishing rapidly and unless the coaching role is seen as a specific job requirement, identified and rewarded accordingly, the skills transfer process will be jeopardised.

A database needs to be compiled of all retired artisans who are available to give up their time to become coaches, and possibly also mentors where that is necessary. This will allow local government to access the right people for them to instil appropriate skills for knowledge coaching.

Experiential training

One of the big challenges when it comes to skills development and employment placing is that graduates are not equipped with workplace experience. Estimates suggest that there are thousands of students that, on a yearly basis, cannot graduate as they are unable to secure the necessary placements. This, in turn deprives the economy of highly-trained graduates, particularly those in engineering sciences.

There are two main reasons for students not being able to gain access to the workplace environment for them to build up experience. Firstly, the number of placement opportunities in the industry has not kept pace with the growing demand and this problem is particularly rife in rural areas. Secondly, many employers today prefer to place unemployed or low-skilled people in the workplace as they receive funds from the relevant Setas for this purpose. When university students have to enter the workplace for experience, the employer is often responsible to pay them a stipend, allowance or wage.

Proposed solutions

At present, a short term solution is being explored with the Higher Education South Africa and employers. A longer term solution would be to change the experiential learning requirements of university or technology programmes. If students are assisted to graduate, the number of graduates and technologists entering the market will have a major impact in meeting the priority skills required by the South African economy.

The benefits of training more artisans in local government

The benefits are threefold, namely:

1. Benefits to the public

The public has a right to expect living and working in an environment that is adequately serviced. This can only be addressed by those who are competent to operate and maintain municipal services. Therefore, local government needs the services of artisans to ensure that a sustainable and safe supply of services is maintained.

2. Benefits to municipalities

Many municipalities, are finding it difficult to acquire proper skilled artisans to operate and maintain infrastructure. By investing in activities that aid in the development of artisans, training centres and mentoring and coaching, an extended pool of artisans will be available to choose from.

3. Benefits to apprentices

There are many benefits for people to become apprentices or to retrain in their field of work. There is the benefit of better employment, personal development, empowerment, more employment satisfaction, earning a salary but to name a few. Over and above this, there are many young people in communities who are inclined to work with their hands, making artisan training ideal for them to expand their career opportunities.

The solutions

When it comes to local government and the need for artisans, the following solutions have been proposed:

* The necessity to define the trades that are critical to local government, for which the local government SETAs should become training custodians.
* The numbers required need to be determined.
* Training facilities need to be identified, existing training centres need to be funded and re-opened.
* Rigorous artisan programmes need to be redeveloped.
* A pool of experienced artisans needs to be made available to assist with workplace supervision training.
* Incentives or rebates need to be made available to encourage municipalities to participate in redeveloping training centres or taking on apprentices.
* Salaries must compete with that of the private sector.
* Career awareness among school leavers must take place.

Without the partnership between local government, educational institutions and the private sector, making this programme sustainable might be very problematic in the long run. Therefore, with the aid of the National Government, partnerships should be built, or where they are already in existence, they should be strengthened to ensure that municipalities function to their full capacity and manage to deliver services to all communities effectively.

Thank you very much and wish you success in your deliberations.

Issued by: Department of Local Government, Gauteng Provincial Government
31 July 2007