FEATURES
It is unclear why the public and private sector find it
difficult to work together, however both sectors have taken
the initiative to be proactive in dealing with it.
“The ITC-SA considers apprenticeships a key facet of
skills development and has plans to promote the benefits
of such programmes to its membership, the roofing trade
and the wider construction trade,” Obbes says.
The gap is caused by a number of issues, it will require a
collaborative approach by all stakeholders to reach a
solution that will satisfy both sectors but ultimately benefit
the industry. Manitshana mentions that we need
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There is a disconnect between what government does and what
the industry does when addressing the issue.
RI
WAY FORWARD
will set them up for long-term employment or even starting
their own businesses later,” Obbes says.
Dilimeni shares that it is one thing to train a certain
number of artisans and another to keep them in the
industry. He believes that it is the public and private sectors
inability to work together that exacerbates the problem.
“Often the Construction Education and Training
Authority (CETA) does their own thing and so does the
industry. From programme design to processes and
certification, there’s a serious problem. Unfortunately, the
consequences are that we are failing to meet the demand,
the ageing population and a lack of new skilled workers to
the sector means the industry faces a ‘ticking time bomb’ of
skilled labour shortages.”
He continues, “Key stakeholders in the construction /
carpentry / roofing skills sector are working in silos,” he
says. Correlation between government investment over the
past five years (of those who have successfully gone
through the programme and qualified as timber
construction engineers, designers, fabricators and / or roof
inspectors) and those coming from such programmes that
are certified by the ITC-SA , is questionable.
“The question is; are we training for the sake of training
or are we responding to the real needs on the ground?” asks
Dilimeni. “There’s a lack of understanding of operations on
site, things like, handling weather, working with timelines
and how that shifts things around. These are practical
aspects that happen in absentia of the project plan,” says
Manitshana. This is where the Lafarge programmes come in
and build a bridge to pull the gap. “It’s where you get
industry experts and veterans conversing with the new
guys and doing the hard work.”
Although the sectors face conflict when addressing the
crisis, Dilimeni believes there is hope. “I do think with
intelligent planning; the skills gap can be bridged. Key
stakeholders in the sector need to play their role,
government and private sector working together to address
these issues especially developing measures to create an
attractive work environment, including specialised
professional development and training,” he says.
Failure to collaboratively address skills can result in a
host of problems. “Collapsed buildings, substandard
materials, material wastage as well as a waste of energy
and resources,” are some of the problems that
Manitshana describes.
Associations and large corporates offer practical skills and
training workshops to upskill the youth or people interested in
being professionals in the field.
"The question is; are we training
for the sake of training or are we
responding to the real needs on the
ground?" asks Dilimeni.
infrastructure and we always will. There is no way that the
industry will die, it is vital that the standards and quality
are maintained and passed down from generation
to generation.