The Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA) has joined forces with Tshwane North Technical, Vocational and Education and Training College (TNC) to train 100 young unemployed learners as artisans, and marked this with an event that took place in Pretoria, Gauteng, last month.

In line with the Department of Higher Education and Training’s directive to use South Africa’s technical, vocational and education and training (TVET) colleges for the purposes of training artisans, the HWSETA partnership with the TNC will train 100 learners in a two-year accelerated artisan development programme.

“We believe that skilling our labour force will play a role in fighting unemployment directly by providing skilled people to a skills-starved economy, but also indirectly by providing a stimulus to economic growth and the development of new and existing industries and economic sectors,” Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Mduduzi Manana said at the launch.

He added that, unless South Africa ramps up its training of artisans to 30 000 a year by 2030, the country’s requirement for artisans in the construction, engineering and other relevant sectors would not be met and the impact would be felt in the sustainability of these industries and, more importantly, economic growth.

“The artisan training target of 30 000 artisans annually by 2030 is a massive challenge for South Africa, but if every role-player who is able to participate does so, as a country we can succeed. And it is because of this that the HWSETA sees this project as a valuable contribution not only to address the country’s artisan shortage, but also to address poverty, unemployment and inequality,” said HWSETA CEO Yvonne Mbane.

The HWSETA has committed R9.7-million to the recruitment and training of the 100 learners over the two-year project period.

TNC acting principal Sello Sethusa said that the partnership with HWSETA was expected to have a multifaceted impact in that not only would it create jobs, alleviate poverty and skill artisans, but it would make a contribution to socioeconomic development in the Tshwane metropolis.
“While this project is expected to make an important contribution to the HWSETA in fulfilling its mandate of upskilling artisans in South Africa, the HWSETA has every intention of pursuing further opportunities that arise with other TVET colleges that wish to partner with the HWSETA,” Mbane noted.

The decline in the training of artisans started in the mid-1980s and by 2013 it was identified as an urgent priority for the country.

The national government’s White Paper for Post-School Education and Training: Building an Expanded, Effective and Integrated Post-School System was approved by Cabinet in November 2013 and, in January 2014, Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande released a policy that not only directly supports the implementation of the National Development Plan 2030, but makes specific provision for the development of trained artisans.

The achievement of the artisan development targets that has been set is dependent on two factors. The first is sustained, committed and high-profile political leadership and the second is considerable investment and commitment by all artisan development role-players in South Africa.

South Africa’s 21 sector education and training authorities (Setas), as well as the 50 TVET colleges have a key role to play in reaching the target for trained artisans.

Since the launch of the Ten Year Ministerial Advocacy Programme known as the ‘Decade of the Artisan’ in 2014, numerous Setas have actively pursued and enjoyed success in establishing programmes aimed at meeting the country’s artisan training targets.