Addressing the Skills Shortage in South Africa: A Case Study of a Sector Education and Training Authority

Authors

Prof Krishna K Govender, Patrick Ngcobo

Abstract

Training and development are important in ensuring that the goals of an organisation (and nation) become a reality. However, since depending on business to voluntarily address the skills agenda will not necessarily achieve the desired results, governments have to take responsibility and aggressively drive the training and development agenda. South Africa has enacted various legislations to address the skills development agenda, one such being the Skills Development Act which mandated the establishment of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). This paper explored the effectives of one, namely, the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing (FP&M) SETA, in addressing the skills shortage in South Africa, by surveying a non-probability sample of training managers, SETA officials and employees from the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. It became evident that: the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) and skills audit are the most common methods used to identify training needs; the existence of the FP&M has not been well communicated; the DAFF complies with the legislation, by submitting Workplace Skills Plans (WSPs) annually; however, the DAFF does not invest enough on employee development, thus contravening the Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998. Given the aforementioned, strategies are recommended for improvement of the situation in the sector

Keywords

skills shortage; skills development; education and training; sector education and training authority

Addressing the Skills Shortage in South Africa: A Case Study of a Sector Education and Training Authority. Prof Krishna K Govender, Patrick Ngcobo. 2015. IJIRCT, Volume 1, Issue 3. Pages 270-275. https://www.ijirct.org/viewPaper.php?paperId=IJIRCT1201056