The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2019 | Page 7

POLICYMAKERS
In consequence, CETA was debating whether it should
re-evaluate the accreditation of its more than 500 training
providers. “There have been some challenges and we are
looking at addressing that,” he says. “Creating employment in the construction
Flagship projects people placed on training courses get
The accounting authority of the Sector Education and
Training Authority (Seta) has set some flagship projects:
“For instance, it has strategically positioned CETA as an
artisanal Seta. In comparison to the 20 other Setas, we are
leading in terms of recruiting and placing artisans, and we
continue to fund more learners on apprenticeships. The
National Development Plan set a target of producing 30 000
artisans a year, while 17 of the 21 Setas who participated in
the artisanal programme last year produced only 22 000
in aggregate. In terms of recruiting new learners into the
system, we are doing very well, but the output [of qualified
artisans] is not good.”
This is because, in part, it takes three years to develop
an artisan. There is a high drop-out rate because in
South Africa, there is nothing which locks them into
the programme. A learner may be on the course for two
years and be recruited into an alternative programme.
The second issue relates to the quality of training. In the absorbed into employment.”
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sector has been a challenge in recent
years; CETA’s objective is to ensure that
third year of an apprenticeship, the apprentice is tested,
and CETA’s rules only allow it to fund a second attempt
at the exams.
“We can’t fund the third attempt, and one of our initiatives
is to identify those people who are almost there — to see if
some kind of refresher might not see them pass.”
Other flagship programmes are the candidacy programme,
which focuses on transformation, and the recognition of
prior learning (RPL). “In this financial year, we’re also leading
the other Setas by targeting 7 000 RPLs for which we are
scouring the databases of the Department of Labour. If you
go into any community, you’ll find there’s a South African
citizen who can fit lights but doesn’t have an electrician’s
qualification. This is one of the areas we wish to address.
CEC February 2019 | 5