SETA LANDSCAPE 29 OCTOBER 2018

BACKGROUND Call for comments: proposed new SETA landscape post 31 March 2020 Government Gazette - 22 August 2018. Principles underpinning the proposed reconfiguration of SETAs : Fit for purpose; Comprehensive Coverage; Viability and sustainability ; and Value chain and value proposition.

COMMENTS OF THE SERVICES SETA Legislative framework. Right skills set as opposed to an occupation . Reskill workers in order to deal with rapid advances in technology. NSDS does not provide sufficiently for entrepreneurships and SMME’s. Catalyst for any change to the current SETA environment must, primarily, be to ensure delivery in terms of the White Paper.

COMMENTS OF THE SERVICES SETA Significant restructuring costs. Impact negatively on staff morale and the ability of the affected SETA’s to deliver on their mandate. Retrenchments and loss of institutional knowledge. Loss of dedicated SETA set up to serve a sector’s unique needs. Specific and focused learning interventions will be impacted upon.

COMMENTS OF THE SERVICES SETA Incompatible professional/educational requirements. Takeover by the dominant SETA which will seek to protect its sector. Inequalities in discretionary grant funding between various sectors. New constitutions , governance and organisational structures. Past mergers and integrations have not proved to be the anticipated solution.

COMMENTS OF THE SERVICES SETA Insufficient data and analysis to confirm that the proposed integration will ensure : achievement of the objectives of the White Paper ; or that the streamlined and integrated value chain will be achieved. Primary scope and reach of SETAs must remain to be determined by the SIC Codes.

CONCLUSION SETAs should play a role in the development of those sectors and projects which are determined to be priority sectors and projects - the Decade of the Artisan campaign as launched by DHET in 2014; promote partnerships between employers, public education institutions, private training providers and the SETAs. Relevance of SETA is dependent on the achievement of a broader post school education and training system. Rationalisation of best practices amongst SETAs.

CONCLUSION Legislative authority to ensure that SETAs perform & consequences to SETA officials. Merger not a remedy for underperforming SETAs. NSDS needs to focus on skills as opposed to occupations & flexibility of business and learning environment which is and will continue to be subject to significant change.