The Civil Engineering Contractor June 2019 | Page 38

THOUGHT LEADERS
Journey from training
to sustainability is key
By Eamonn Ryan
The theme of this year’s CETA summit, hosted by the Construction Education and Training
Authority (CETA), was ‘Progressing SMMEs from basic training to sustainability’.
A
draft five-year strategic
plan was developed prior
to the 2019 CETA Summit
and to complete the document this
summit hosted six ‘commissions’ or
panel discussions where the input
of the several hundred stakeholder
participants attending the summit
would be considered.
CETA acting CEO Robert
Semenya outlined the five-year
strategic plan, calling the present
cycle in the construction sector “an
interesting time”.
“I always say, when there is a crisis
there is a solution. This strategy we
are releasing is aimed at addressing
some obstacles that have been
bedevilling the country: the issue
of transformation, the issue of
women empowerment, the issue of
introducing people with disabilities
to the sector.
“The people who have come here
today, come with expectations – you
want to run successful enterprises.
Some of you are already in business;
some of you are interested; some of
you are not sure. This strategy we
are developing is aimed at answering
your questions. Everyone is trying
to do something to help the SMME:
MBSA [Master Builders South
Africa], SAFCEC, IOPSA [Institute of
36 | CEC June 2019
Plumbing South Africa] – but there’s
always been a gap,” said Semenya.
“With the advent of the National
Skills Development programme,
we’ve seen the start of learnership
and short work-skills programmes,
but one thing we have not seen is
skills development that focuses on
enterprise development. That’s where
we want to go.”
Minister of Higher Education and
Training, Naledi Pandor, published
the National Skills Development
Plan (NSDP), aimed at assisting
the South African Government to
contribute towards the economic
growth, creation of employment and
social development. Published in the
Government Gazette (Vol 645, no42290)
of 7 March, in line with Section 9
(4) of the Skills Development Act,
No. 97 of 1998 as amended, the plan
responds to the goals of the National
Development Plan and the White
Paper for Post-School Education and
Training.
“All these plans talk of SMME
development. As a CETA, we cannot
develop learnerships for SMMEs, so
the type of programmes we want to
implement are modular based for
SMMEs. It cannot be a matter of a
three- or five-day programme – and
that’s it. The first step is to research
what are the skills available in South
Africa – aggregating the huge number
of people one typically sees outside
hardware stores with signs saying they
are tilers, painters or plumbers. They
can do the job but don’t have formal
qualifications.”
Currently no-one is looking after
them, although many of them may
have valuable skills. This is also why
the programme addresses SMMEs,
whereas in business the focus is
more usually on SMEs. The second
M refers to micro enterprises, or the
survivalist economy, rather than small
businesses.
“We’re collecting information of
those people throughout the country.
Once we have done that, we will look
at a programme that will assist these
people who are ‘standing outside’.
We want to take it further than just
developing programmes – we want
to add technology in the shape of 4th
Industrial Revolution technologies
to see how we can formalise these
people,” added Semenya. “We need to
know who they are, what can they do
and what their level of education is.”
The Plan
The CETA Plan involves a three-
pronged approach:
• Grassroots level;
• Those already in the construction
sector; and
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