Jean-Patrick Leger and Phillip van Niekerk argue that the private sector should take the initiative in training artisans and other skilled personnel needed for South Africa's reindustrialisation

Before South Africa lapses into ‘business as usual’, it is worthy reflecting briefly on that heady moment not so long ago when President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his maiden State of the Nation address to Parliament. In the speech, Ramaphosa disclosed plans for a summit to seek practical solutions and new initiatives for job creation, especially for the youth.

This was put forward within the framework of an ambitious vision of reindustrialising the country “on a scale that draws millions of jobseekers into the economy”.

It has always been challenging for the private sector to find new ways of working with government and labour to achieve greater goals when many businesses do not regard those goals as part of their purview, particularly when businesses often feel they are under attack from government.

This may explain the reluctance to come forward with new ideas. Business- people are often concerned that whatever new ideas emerge from government will lead to more problems and complexities.

But, if the anger ignited by the debate on land expropriation without compensation has shown anything, it is that there is an expectation that the new regime will bring meaningful change to people’s lives by challenging the economic status quo.

If business does not want to surrender ground to the populists, it should start imagining how it can contribute to a more just and equal society. Just as at Dunkirk, when a flotilla of small boats crossed the English Channel to bring home the British soldiers trapped on the beaches of France, so the country’s manufacturers should take the initiative and bring home an army of artisans and skilled workers who will be needed for the next battle: the reindustrialisation of South Africa.

Unlike the troops at Dunkirk, South Africa is not engaged in a world war; it is embroiled in a profound crisis. Unemployment and despair, while hardly touching the enclaves of privilege, are corrosive and unsustainable. More than six-million South Africans are unemployed, and youth unemployment remains stubbornly above 50%. Of those who are employed, many are trapped in dead-end, low-skilled jobs.

The arguments concerning free higher education have obscured the equally critical need for training young people for skilled blue-collar jobs. Any implication that there is only one route to gainful employment and a decent lifestyle leaves out those who are less academically inclined. The many who do not go to university are the most economically marginalised and many despair of finding any way to escape poverty.

Apprentice and learnership schemes are a means by which young people with little work experience can gain essential experience and theoretical knowledge for job entry. The tally of apprentices is small, compared with the number of students enrolled at public higher education institutions – about 112 000 apprentices, compared with 620 000 university students (excluding the 400 000 who are enrolled at the University of South Africa) – and they are often overlooked in discussions about transforming education.

Yet South Africa is faced simultaneously with high unemployment and an enormous skills shortage – one that will ensure that the reindustrialisation that Ramaphosa advocates will be stymied before it starts. There is a way to deal with this conundrum that does not lay the full burden at the door of government. It is what we call the one-for-three solution. One of us (Leger) runs a small manufacturing company in the Free State and has adopted a policy of actively training young people – in practice, one apprentice or learner for every three permanent staff members.

If all South Africa’s manufacturer employers followed a one-for-three approach, we could train hundreds of thousands of South Africans in the much-needed practical skills that will help jumpstart the economy. Manufacturing and mining, combined, employ about 1.6-million permanent workers.

If State-owned enterprises and government technical and engineering services on all levels – including the municipalities – are included, the one- for-three solution could generate up to one-million newly skilled workers into the formal economy.

The solution would build on existing programmes, some of which have stalled, and would need to be fleshed out in consultation with government, trade unions, companies big and small and technical training institutions. It is also time for the private sector and government to engage universities – especially the science, technology, engineering and maths faculties – to see how some of their graduates can be absorbed into on-the-job training programmes.

Some of these discussions may take place at the President’s job summit, where we will present our proposal in detail. Critically, this national apprenticeship and learnership programme would have to be a good- faith effort to train those who would otherwise not be employed, and not an attempt to displace union labour with lower-paid interns. There could be a rewarding negotiation around preferential procurement and additional incentives for businesses that participate in the programme, which would be voluntary.

We will continue to emphasise that skills training is not just a door to opportunity for the disadvantaged or a means of dealing with the scourge of youth unemployment. It is also a necessary requirement for equipping South Africa with a competitive workforce capable of delivering the more prosperous future that we are striving to achieve.

The global economy is changing, and the cheap workforce that industrialised South Africa the first time can no longer be the country’s crutch. Competitive industrialisation in this highly technological age is taking place in the global ‘brain belts’ and, if South Africa aims to compete, it has to build an army of skilled and semi-skilled workers.

The mining sector, long the mainstay of the South African economy, is on the upswing and the shortage of skilled workers is already being felt. Any thought of taking the mining sector forward into the new technological age, where South Africa long held a competitive edge, is a nonstarter without a complete revision of how the country trains and equips its workers.

Ramaphosa’s address was widely praised, but was also criticised by some for being short on detail and hard policy decisions. This is not surprising, given the fact that he had to deliver the speech within one day of becoming President. But it is also because it is up to society to fill in many of the blanks.

Most importantly, it is incumbent upon manufacturing employers to make their contribution to overcoming economic stagnation and inspiring hope by building the workforce of the future.

Leger is chairperson of VescoPlastics, the 2017 Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa artisan Award winner, while Van Niekerk, a former editor of the Mail & Guardian, is president of Washington-based Calabar Consulting.