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A report that was recently tabled before Council in the City of Johannesburg is guaranteed to incur wasteful expenditure by the Department of Social Development’s training offering to employees.

The Skills Development Strategy Report, which was passed in Council with the support of the ANC and its coalition partners, contains a damning admission in that the Department’s current training offering does not align with employers’ needs.

The report identifies a disconnect between departmental programmes, SETA skills plans and the skills that employers require. It also acknowledges that existing programmes have not fully realised their potential to transform young people’s lives.

For unemployed residents, this failure has real consequences in terms of prospects of employment, further education or sustainable self-employment. The administration cannot claim success simply because residents attend courses as a box-ticking exercise. The City must account for what happens after training ends and its effectiveness.

Under former Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba’s leadership, he established Opportunity Centres to support entrepreneurs and connect residents with economic opportunities. This was one of the ways to provide an approach of linking care, recovery and economic participation. The current administration’s report demonstrates that critical aspect of that is missing.

The strategy contains worthwhile proposals, including better-equipped skills centres, annual skills assessments, accredited training and pathways into employment or enterprise. However, approving these proposals does not make them operational.

Although the strategy proposes monitoring enrolment, completion and transitions into better opportunities, it provides no targets that should lead to employment, further study or businesses opportunities. Concerns about stalled rehabilitation services and skills development centres require equally urgent answers. 

The administration must publish which facilities are functioning, which projects are delayed, what funding has been spent and who is responsible for resolving the problems. Recovery services must also connect residents with continuing social support and suitable opportunities to rebuild their lives.

Under my leadership, I would turn these commitments into a delivery programme with clear accountability, this includes:

• Within the first 100 days, assess rehabilitation and skills development facilities and publish their operating status, staffing, equipment needs, funding and outstanding project commitments.
• Produce costed recovery plans for stalled services and projects, delivery deadlines and funding requirements.
• Align training with the needs of residents in collaboration with TVET colleges and SETAs to secure verified accreditation, workplace experience and pathways to employment.
• Connect treatment, social support and economic opportunity by coordinating Health and Social Development with Economic Development.
• Publish quarterly progress and expenditure reports, including corrective action where commitments are not met.

The Skills Development Strategy Report identifies areas that will lead to its failure. As a result, the administration must now answer for its flagrant ignorance in approving a programme that will not benefit residents.

ActionSA will continue to hold Dada Morero’s administration to account for ongoing misgovernance that fails to protect the interests of residents.

Issued by ActionSA MMC Candidate for Health & Social Development Sarah Wissler