7 October 1999
The Honourable Ambassador Mr. Laidler,
Representatives of individual member states of the European Union and other governments resent tonight,
Distinguished guests
Colleagues,
Comrades and friends:
The largest ever single technical assistance programme funded by the European Union anywhere in the world! That is what we are here to launch tonight. What a remarkable achievement - a true cause for celebration.
The programme is remarkable in many ways. It is remarkable for the scope of its vision, it is remarkable for the depth of detail it encompasses, it is remarkable for the range of stakeholder consultation embedded within it, it is remarkable for the number of consultants it plans to mobilise (well over a hundred and forty I'm told) and of course, remarkable for the scale of support being provided - some 46 million Euro's, which at current exchange rates amounts to a staggering R276 million. Most of all, it i s remarkable in the impact that the skills revolution unleashed as a result will have on our economy and in building a better life for our people - workers and the unemployed, youth, rural women and people with disabilities.
Where, you may ask, were the germs first sown for such an ambitious initiative? Well, the principle trigger was of course the progressive world's opposition to apartheid. Even before the transition to democracy, European member states, individually and col lectively, alongside other nations, were actively supporting anti-apartheid groups. One such group was the trade union movement. The European Union began its support of work in the field of what we now know as skills development way back in 1992. They supp orted a study of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (or TVET) in South Africa. This led to active support of work under the National Training Board in 1993. The EU funded the international comparative research which greatly enriched the NTB's final report, published in 1994 and known as the National Training Strategy Initiative.
With our first democratic elections held in 1994, the support translated into a desire to help our fledgling government to address the problems inherited from apartheid. For the young South African nation state to prosper it needs not only its democratic i nstitutions, but also a sound and growing economy. Without economic growth, all realise that the hard won gains could be eroded. Macro-economic, trade and industry, labour market and human resources development policies are needed to underpin the reconstru ction and development of country.
Most potential donor agencies were particularly mindful of the ravages of apartheid in the spheres of education and training. All too often in descriptive accounts of these ravages the shameful rates of adult illiteracy and the poor quality of general scho oling were highlighted. These were not just the cause for moral outrage - although they were certainly that - but the low skill base of the country also threatened to act as a brake on economic growth and social development - as simply too few people had t he knowledge and skills to drive up the nation's productivity and thereby expand the resources it needed to eradicate inequality and poverty. Support for expanding the knowledge and skill base of the country is therefore a vital area for donor intervention .
In the human resources development sphere, there was a confluence of initiatives from the education as well as the training side which framed the new government's policies. From training, the National Training Strategy Initiative report was the key. It enj oyed the support of organised workers and employers as well as the new government actors - who had previously been involved in its development as trade unionists or education policy practioners "in waiting". The Ministry of Labour formally adopted the Nati onal Training Strategy Initiative as the basis for policy development in its first five-year programme.
As I indicated earlier, the National Training Strategy Initiative report was also the product of collaborative work between a range of donor agencies, including the European Union and key South African stakeholders. It therefore provided an ideal platform from which discussions on areas of future collaboration could take place.
1995 was the year in which the NTSI recommendations on the establishment of the National Qualifications Framework were developed and the South African Qualifications Authority Act, co-sponsored by the Ministers of Labour and Education, was passed. The supp ort that the European Union is in the process of providing to SAQA is therefore fully consistent with the priorities of government - and may I use this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Laidler, for this support, which is in addition to the Labour Market Skill s Development Programme.
Work to develop other recommendations of the National Training Strategy Initiative commenced in earnest in 1996. The new Department of Labour began interacting with its social partners to explore further ways of massively expanding access to education and training linked to the labour market. Work had hardly begun, when discussions took place between officials in the Department and representatives of the European Union delegation to explore ways in which the new emerging policies could be supported.
The first versions of the Skills Development Bill were barely drafted when detailed plans were afoot to look at broad-ranging implementation strategies. Policy development and implementation planning complemented one another from as early as 1996.
The first formal planning session involving social partners and government officials took place in January 1997. The Financing proposal was developed between April to June of the same year. The senior Department of Labour official responsible for this area of work, supported by an EU sponsored consultant, went to Brussels in October 1997 to directly present the proposal to the member states. This was the first "first" - as a recipient country had not previously been afforded this opportunity. This was only achieved with the very active support of the South African-based EU delegation - for which I thank you.
The final Financing agreement between our government and the EU was finally signed in May 1998 - about the same time as the negotiations on the Skills Development Bill were finalised in NEDLAC. The Skills Development Act was in fact only formally adopted b y parliament later in the same year. The Skills Development Levies Act was only finally passed at the beginning of this year - it is Act 5 of 1999!
In spite of the apparent alignment - there were some trying months in which we all waited for the processes of pre-qualification and final tender to run their course. They took in the end a full year! These processes unfolded as the clock ticked by and the implementation of the levy on 1 April 2000 became ever more imminent.
At last the waiting and preparations are over! The first project's contract was signed at the end of June, and projects two, three, five and six were signed at the end of August. There remains a problem with Project four, but hopefully that too will soon b e settled. It is therefore with gratitude, excitement and some measure of relief, that we are here tonight to formally launch the Labour Market Skills Development Programme.
I would like to congratulate the successful consortia and warmly welcome those consultants that have already begun their work. A special thanks to those who I am told have already worked over weekends to meet deadlines! Certainly our expectations are extre mely high and the pressures for delivery never greater. I trust that you will share the vision we have for skills development in our country and work alongside us to achieve our objectives and meet our deadlines. There is frankly no room for those that do not. I have made it clear to all the social partners that I do not intend to postpone the date for the implementation of the levy. The institutions and systems simply must be sufficiently ready.
But if this sounds somewhat serious, remember the real rewards that we will all enjoy when we succeed! We will know that we have contributed towards the improvement of the quality of life of South African workers, their prospects of work and labour mobilit y; we will have helped improve the productivity and competitiveness of South African firms; we will also have helped to promote self employment and supported those responsible for the delivery of social services to the citizens of this country! A proud and noble contribution indeed.
These outcomes are to be achieved through six parallel projects - each discrete but complementary to the others. For those not already familiar with these may I quickly summarise them.
Project One seeks to ensure that the relevant institutional and management capacity in the Department, specifically the Chief Directorate: Employment and Skills Development is established.
Project Two will put in place the information system for strategic planning by both government and our social partners operating in the Sector Education and Training Authorities (or SETAs) and National Skills Authority. This capacity will enable us to unde rstand the skills we need to prioritise and target.
Project Three aims to put in place a national system of learnerships and the necessary education and training quality assurance systems for all learning undertaken. Already there are a number of significant pilot projects which are underway.
Project Four will assist firms to be able to design and implement workplace skills plans aligned to equity targets and productivity initiatives.
Project Five will ensure that the 27 SETAs which I have signalled my intention to establish are indeed established, as too will be the enhanced competency of the National Skills Authority.
And finally, Project Six will ensure that the financial incentives linked to the skills development levy/grant system are appropriately designed, implemented and monitored.
Together this constitutes an enormous workload by any reckoning. To all of you - social partners, government officials and consultants - who will be taking the strain and in some cases burning the midnight oil, may I firstly say, on behalf of the people of South Africa who will so richly benefit from your efforts - thank you.
And to the European Union that has so generously supported us for so long - it will have been a decade when we're done with this Programme - from the South African government may I convey our very sincere gratitude. Without this assistance there is absolut ely no doubt in my mind that we would not be able to dream of the timeframes and scale of delivery which you are helping to make possible.
We hope of course that we will be so successful that not only will individual workers and employers benefit directly from this Programme, but more generally, that South African producers will too and that, as a result of rising skills, they will become inc reasingly well positioned to be real trading partners of yours - expanding the traditional trading highways between Northern countries to include significant exchanges between the North and the South, and with Africa and South Africa in particular. The tra de agreement signed between Europe and South Africa will hopefully contribute towards this outcome too - even if it can't include sherry and port! In this way our fledgling democracy will grow in stability and stature and we will be able to rise up from th e ashes of apartheid and soar with the successful developing nations of the world. As this happens, Mr. Laidler, we will have to show to our poorer neighbours the same generosity and support you have shown us if the African Renaissance is to become a reali ty - and democracy is to be more than a nine-letter word.
In conclusion, I know that the staff in my Department and I will do all in our power to ensure that this remarkable programme is a "world-class success". And, given the extent of consultation and negotiation with our social partners and the depth of agreem ent secured for the Skills Development Strategy, I am sure that I can speak on their behalf in expressing a similar commitment.
We South Africans stand together with our European partners determined to succeed. On this extraordinarily strong foundation I am delighted to launch our Labour Market Skills Development Programme.