Cold Link Africa Jul/Aug 2016 Vol 1 No 6 | Seite 28

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN

WorldSkills SA launches
2016/17 competition

#WSSA

By Kelly-Ann Prinsloo

On Thursday, 12 May 2016 at the swanky Johannesburg Country Club in Auckland
Park, WorldSkills South Africa (WSSA) launched the 2016/17 competition.

W

orldSkills South Africa (WSSA)
launched the 2016/17
competition at a cocktail event
at the Johannesburg Country Club in
Auckland Park on Thursday, 12 May 2016.
The programme included speeches
from Mduduzi Manana, deputy minister of
Higher Education and Training (DHET); Tayla
Schou, a former competitor and member
of the WorldSkills International (WSI)
Champion Trust; and Ryan Marsh, WSSA’s
plumbing and heating expert.
Schou’s speech focused on her
experience as a WSSA competitor, as
well as the importance of the trades.
“The competitors are what makes this
competition,” she said, adding, “It's not just
academics, it's not just sport – it is the trades
that build the world.”

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Marsh talked about the Community
Plumbing Challenge taking place in
Diepsloot, Johannesburg in July, which
is hosted in conjunction with the World
Plumbing Conference (WPC) 2016 and will
see teams from around the world install
toilet blocks in Diepsloot.
WSI, the largest skills competition in the
world, was founded in 1950. It is a global
organisation that promotes vocational,
technological and service oriented
education and training. It brings youth,
industries and educators together to give
young artisans the chance to compete
and gain experience.
The international competition takes
place every two years — the 2017
instalment of WSI will take place in Abu
Dhabi. The competitors, who are selected

by their respective countries, may only
participate once in the competition and
they must be between the ages of 18
and 22 years in the year the competition
takes place.
In South Africa, the WorldSkills initiative is
championed by the DHET. Although South
Africa has been participating in WSI events
since 1 990, WSSA was formally established
in April 2013 by the deputy minister of DHET,
Mduduzi Manana.
Visit www.worldskillssa.dhet.gov.za for
more information. CLA

Mduduzi Manana, deputy minister of
Higher Education and Training during
the event.

www.coldlinkafrica.co.za

COLD LINK AFRICA • July | August 2016