SA focusing on skills development
DEPUTY Minister of Trade and Industry Mzwandile Masina says the government is doing all it can to intensify skills development and accelerate socio-economic transformation.
His department is responsible for facilitating the transformation of the economy to promote industrial development, investment, competitiveness and employment.
Masina said industrial development recognised the need for the creation of a skills base and that his department was working hard to ensure the government helped to transform the economy from being consumption-driven to being production-based.
He pointed out that the government had placed young people at the centre of its radical economic transformation agenda.
“We are working closely with the Department of Higher Education and Training on the ‘It’s Cool to be a 21st Century Artisan’ programme, in trying to build the skills base we need as a country to accelerate the industrial transformation agenda,” he said.
Speaking about the skills drain, he said the government was comforted by the fact that those who had left would return to share their expertise. “We are encouraged to see young people gain international experience. South Africa is a great country and those who have left know how great the country is. I have no doubt they will return to share the experience they have gained,” he said.
Masina believes localisation is key to accelerating economic growth. “If South Africa was to turn the tide, the acceleration of skills development and the implementation of local content would be some of the important aspects at the top of the agenda,” he said.
Local-content policy provided the government with the opportunity to leverage its resource endowments to drive its industrialisation objectives, especially when local content policies were designed to encourage backward, forward and/or lateral linkages.
“We can no longer hope to continue to live, prosper, and create jobs and sustainable livelihoods for our people if we remain trapped in the global division of labour as producers and exporters of primary products and raw materials, and importers of valueadded products.
“As long as we stay there, we will not be taking our productive economy forward,” said Masina.
South Africa was a fertile ground for foreign direct investment, receiving more foreign direct investment than any other country in Africa, “but it is important for the country to continue to enhance its attractiveness as a prime investment destination”.
South Africa had signed a Trilateral Free Trade Area agreement involving the Southern African Development Community, East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. This was an important initiative in accelerating regional integration efforts aimed at ensuring that African countries trade with each other on terms at least as favourable as other competitors. The agreement was signed in Egypt in June.
“The agreement represents an integrated market of 26 countries with a combined population of 625 million people and a total gross domestic product of $1.6 trillion (R20 trillion),” he added.
“This is an important milestone in the implementation of the development integration agenda in Africa aimed at promoting market integration, and industrial and infrastructure development.”
Sibongiseni Ziinjiva Ka-Mnguni writes on behalf of Merseta. For more information on skills development, see www.merseta.org.za.