Transcript [Subject]

FACING THE REALITIES OF SKILLS SHORTAGES IN
THE ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY
E-SETA
CONFERENCE
INDABA HOTEL
27/11/07
Presented by: Silas M. Zimu
(MD City Power)
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INDEX

Critical conversations relating to skills

Employment vs Available jobs

Skills Dialogue
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How do we move from dialogue to actions
The bigger picture
The South African Electricity Sector Profile
The skills Agenda
CRITICAL CONVESATIONS
REQUIRED
SKILLS
FORMS OF
ENERGY
UNEMPLOYMENT
CAPACITY TO
GENERATE,
TRANSMIT &
DISTRUBUTE
ELECTRICITY
ELECTRICITY
INFRASTRUCTURE
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BRAIN
DRAIN
THE PACE OF
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
POVERTY
UNEMPLOYMENT vs. AVAILABLE JOBS
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Financial Mail: October 26, 2007
THE HARSH REALITY
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Financial Mail: October 26, 2007
ECONOMIC GROWTH OUTLOOK
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5
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Y/Y%
economic growth
% of technical skills to cope with
ESCALATING TECHNICAL SKILLS GAPS IN THE SECTOR
3
2
1
0
1998
1999
2000
* 2nd Quarter 2007
# Reuters Economic Forecast
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2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007* 2008# 2009#
Source: Stats SA, Reuters
Financial Mail: October 26, 2007
THE SKILLS DIALOGUE
“The economic dialogue backed by the treasury and
the presidency, big businesses, the SETA’s and labour is
bringing fresh
insight into how to resolve SA’s most intractable
Dilemma: the need for growth path that will mop up
SA’s mass of unskilled labour “
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Financial Mail: October 26, 2007
HOW DO WE MOVE FROM DIALOGUE TO ACTIONS
 Reinforce on the skills debate giving input on strategies in
particular, elevating the energy sector needs
 Proactively engage Education and Labour ministries including all
role players and businesses to recommit to joint learning and
skilling initiatives as critical to the future of the country
 Invest on research to magnify the potential impact of weak or
good strategies for the future
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
DRIVERS
Vendors
Infrastructure
2010 World Cup and Beyond
Generation Capacity
Economic Growth
and
Poverty alleviation
SKILLS, SKILLS, SKILLS
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Technical skills
Project Managers
Vendors
Global warming
Planners
Experts
Legal and regulatory Framework
Researchers
Experts
Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy
Financial Management
Urban Development Framework COJ
Vendors
SECTOR EMPLOYEE PROFILE
22%
78%
•The total number of employees in the electricity sector is 121 000
(ref: Labour Force Survey March 2006 – Stats - SA )
•In Gauteng there are 26 000 (21.5%) employees in this sector
PS, This is a total number of people working in the sector and not a reflection of the skill required in the
sector
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SKILLS AGENDA
Industry commitment
to skills development
(Learnerships)
(ASGISA)
Accelerated And
Shared Growth
Initiative for
South Africa
(EPWP)
Expanded
Public
Works
Programme
CAPACITY
CREATIION
Prioritization of
upskilling and
assessments of
prior learning
within the
workplace
Effectiveness leverage
successful strategies
(Benchmark)
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EMPLOYMENT,
ECOMOMIC
GROWTH,
SUSTAINABILITY
Skills Challenge (…1)
 One of the major challenges that faces South Africa currently is that of a skill
shortage.
 The South African Government was mandated in 2004 to halve poverty and
unemployment by 2014. In order to achieve this Government initiated the
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) which targets
an economic growth rate for the country of 6%. However one of the major
constraints identified was:
 AsgiSA states as a binding constraint the “Shortage of suitably skilled labour amplified by the
impact of apartheid spatial patterns on the cost of labour.
The most difficult aspects of the legacy of apartheid to unwind arise from its
deliberately inferior system of education and irrational patterns of population
settlement. In a period of growth it is evident that we lack sufficient skilled
professionals, managers and artisans, and that the uneven quality of education remains
a contributory factor. In addition, the price of labour of the poor is pushed up by the fact
that many live a great distance from their place of work.”
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Current Status
 Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) has set a target to facilitate
the training of up to 50 000 artisans by 2010.
 State owned enterprises (SOEs) would play a critical role in the implementation
of AsgiSA.
 Commercialisation of SOEs from 1987/88 onwards coupled with the
rationalisation and consolidation, which took place within government post 1994
created unforeseen consequences.
 Processes were flawed in that there was no central oversight or strategic co-
ordination of training within government.
 Government departments (and SOEs) took decisions about the future of their
training facilities without exploring whether these could still be utilised within the
system.
 Rationalisation and integration process inadvertently contributed towards the
‘decapacitation’ of the state.
 Outsourcing of training across government departments has further contributed
towards this.
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National skills development initiatives
 In terms of local government and service delivery the focus is on addressing the skills
problems through Project Consolidate. The skills interventions include:
 The deployment of experienced professionals and managers to improve project
development, implementation and maintenance of capabilities.
 SALGA’s Integrated Capacity Building Strategy:
 Encompassing local government’s large-scale transformation and restructuring which
has created a large demand for new skills and skills upgrading.
 Identified the lack of “know-how” to support restructuring and the rising service
delivery demands and the weak capacity to respond to the challenge.
 The fact that historically much of the training in the sector has been of poor quality and
relevance and that this still remains the case today.
 The need to introduce a sector-wide workplace learning, facilitating, coordinating and
managing mechanism.
 Eskom and AMEU Technical Training Committee:
 Working closely with the National Wires Workgroup
 Identifying the issue of duplication of Training facilities.
 Competing for the same resources.
 Optimise partnerships and the development of training material.
 Eskom’s recent decision to centralise training into “one Varsity for all”
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EDI skills challenge
 One of the major challenges that will face RED management is that of
effectively staffing the organisation due to:
 The current South African major skills shortage.
 The high number of current vacancies in the legacy organisations.
 Due to the nature of the Industry fragmented policies with regards to training
and development.
 The limited number of instructors/trainers/coaches within the Industry.
 The confusion surrounding SETAS and skills programmes, Learnerships etc.
 Many of the professional staff i.e. engineers are of an age 50+.
 Staff loss to other industries and overseas
 Experienced staff going pension.
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Industry Priorities
Building Capacity in the Programme management environment:
COW, Project Co-ordinators, Project managers, Programme managers.
Development of COW Learnership.
Registration of skills programmes, Electrical NQF 1, NQF 2, NQF 3, COW, Pricing.
Develop entry level qualifications, e.g. Linesmen.
Creation of Centres of Excellence – Research on applied Technology.
Material Development – Governance.
ASGISA Project:
Workplace training:
Coaches
Mentors
Assessors
Retaining of qualified staff in Engineering.
Training of Contractors.
ORHVS e-learning
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Transitional plan (…1)
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EDI Holdings establish a EDI National Training and Development Forum.
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This Forum’s membership may comprise of the following role players:
 EDI Holdings
 Eskom
 SALGA
 Trade Unions
 Energy SETA
 Other pertinent SETAs (e.g. FASSETA)
 Members of AsgiSA and/or JIPSA
 Department of Labour
 National Productivity Institute
 NEDLAC
 Representatives/experts in Higher Education
 Human Capital Workgroup representation
 Technical Training Committee
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Transitional plan (…2)
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The proposed mandate for this forum may include:
 The development of training and development strategies and plans for the Industry.
 The engagement of relevant parties such as AsgiSA/JIPSA/SAQA/SETAs/ to promote
and advance training and development for the EDI.
 To review current legislation and if required make recommendation to the relevant
bodies regarding reform.
 To Consider the possible establishment of a National EDI Capacity Building Academy
that would be capable of developing individuals within the Industry, at all levels, with an
acceptable level of quality assurance, SAQA accreditation and in conjunction with
recognition higher education institution.
 To ensure the alignment of EDI initiatives to other initiatives e.g. JIPSA, SALGA, Eskom
etc.
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THE END
????????
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