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EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS
4IR: All hands
on deck
A workshop was recently held by Manufacturing,
Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and
Training Authority (Merseta) to discuss the issue of skills,
the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how it is going to
impact skills in the country and in terms of support
for those initiatives. The purpose is to grow skills and
encourage innovation in education, and encourage the
growth of small, black-owned businesses.
Opening the workshop, Retail Motor Industry President Jeanne
Esterhuizen, said, “Every previous challenge was about our industry
changing – 4IR is different in that it is not about us but is changing
the entire human basic condition as we know it. The question is,
how do we prepare our existing workforce? And how do we prepare
youngsters to become future employees?”
The challenge, as spelled out in the National Skills Development
Plan, is that South Africa lacks the skills to create the growth
the country needs in a knowledge based global economy, and in
addition that workforce is not keeping pace with technological
changes.
The average age of artisans in South Africa is about 44 years
compared to the average age of all people in Africa, at 19 years.
Forget about 4IR, we aren’t even replacing or upgrading the existing
skills base.
“Labour market intelligence is a huge problem in South Africa,
and we are drilling down into statistics to find out exactly what the
problems are,” she says.
What is industry’s expectation of workforce readiness and the
demand within the skills development system? “We’re looking at
critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, communication, work
ethic and team work to cope with the fast-changing technologies
and businesses required. Even as a small business, if you don’t
equip yourself with all of these components, you get stuck on the
shop floor instead of focusing on global innovations – one of which
may come along and put you out of business.
“So, we are not just talking about workplace skills here, but
equipping entrepreneurs to be competitive, in an incubator
environment. In terms of workplace skills, you don’t train ‘because
you can’ but must practically match skills to specific jobs. You
train a person so that he can have a job – which is the essence
of 4IR. Today, we have people coming out of a TVET college with
the technical skills but who can’t switch on a computer. In any job
today, you have to work with diagnostics, company management
systems. We then end up in a situation where qualified artisans or
even engineers come into the workplace and are given filing to do –
because the expectation is that they can’t do anything.”
Leon Beech, CEO Northlink College, says: “The motto has to be ‘All
hands on deck”, because without a collective strategy we are not
going to save this country’s economy. The silo mentality is extremely
prevalent in this country – with everybody doing their own things to
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January 2020 Volume 25 I Number 11