Category — Workplace Training

Sectoral Education Training Authorities (“SETAs”) were establishing a decade ago as a mechanism to implement the Government’s National Skills Development Strategy.

In recent years, SETA’s have been beset by claims of poor management and misuse of funds and criticised for having minimal impact on addressing South Africa’s skills shortage. Partially in response to that criticism, responsibility for SETAs was transferred from the Department of Labour (“DOL”) to the Department of Higher Education and Training (“DHET”) in November 2009 and the Minister heading up DHET has now proposed changes and amalgamations to a number of SETAs.

The proposed changes are subject to public hearings to held by the National Skills Authority, but if the proposals go ahead, it will see the formation of six new SETAs and the total number of SETAs will reduce from 23 to 21.
The effect for employers will be that that the regulation of learnerships and the submission of Workplace Skills Plans, for example, will change for companies in any of the following sectors:

• advertising and media
• furniture and timber products
• printing, packaging and publishing
• electrical contractors
• non-government organisations
• motor and petrol retailers
• broadcasters

Workplace Strategies will monitor these proposed reforms and advise once the changes take effect.