Address by the Minister of Higher Education and Training on the Occasion of the 07th National Congress Gala Dinner on the 14th June 2011 at the University of Free State Comrades, this is my first public appearance after the burial of the most dignified woman freedom fighter of our liftimee, Mama Albertina Sisulu. We are proud to have been breastfed by her. We continue to be inspired by her strategy and tactics above everything her values, including embracing family life and respect for the other. It is an honour for me to be invited, by default to the high level national congress of pop cru taking place in our historic province during the historic month. Minister Blade Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education and Training was looking forward to an opportunity to address you, but due to pressing government commitments, he cannot be with you tonight. Mr President and comrades, allow me to add a word of welcome to POPCRU’s new graduates from the Universities of Western Cape and Witwatersrand and all other POPCRU learners present here tonight. To the graduates, I hope you will learn as members share about the historical struggles of POPCRU and pick up the baton so as to ensure that the revolutionary and transformative role of POPCRU is sustained with vigour and determination. POPCRU today The Congress Theme is “21 years of consolidating working class power within the criminal justice system”. Congresses by nature give members an opportunity to reflect on the status of the organization, interrogate gains made and articulate outstanding challenges. The 21st birthday is normally a stage which is associated with strength and maturity. In the case of POPCRU, you have certainly struggled against the social ills of the apartheid regime and the challenges in democracy. In praising you, I would like to reiterate the words of the General Secretary of COSATU,Cde Zwelinzima Vavi during your 06th National Congress in June 2007, when he said “Your union has truly taken the process of organizational development to heart, you have taken forward our commitment to uniting all workers in each sector under our affiliates. You have managed to maintain solidarity through difficult strikes in sectors still known for repressive labour relations”. I must also applaud pop cru in its efforts to advance the working class struggles in education and the design of the skills development landscape. We recall that, amongst others; · You have hosted an iconic National Political School in the history of the organization, · You have finalized the Revised Basic Shop Steward Manual for capacitating our leaders and shop stewards alike, · You continue to participate actively in all COSATU,DITSELA and SETA’s Education and Skills Developmental activities, · POPCRU Women Development Programmes in partnership with the University of Western Cape has gone to greater levels with an Advanced Programme in progress, and lastly · You continue to focus on skills development for your workers. You should be proud that some major shifts in Government policies are as a result of your voice and your struggles within the Alliance. Certainly, this Congress gives members an opportunity to make a careful assessment of challenges faced by members within our democratic dispensation. It is therefore logical to challenge the new leadership to use lessons learnt, in further repositioning POPCRU. As the representatives of the working class, you have a mammoth task at hand. Our society is ranked amongst the most unequal in the world. This inequality is due to the painful history we come from as a country. The apartheid government used education, labour laws and plies as a machinery to create the poorest of the poor working class.Unfortunately, that legacy is still with us today. Our Democratic Government’s economic policies have had unintended consequences. The growth of the economy without job creation has failed the working class. It has widened the gap between the haves and have not’s. Hence today we are concerned about the high levels of unemployment, lack of human security and lack of skills for supporting the economic growth path. The mandate of the DHET and the Skills Development Pipeline Comrades, as you are all aware, President Jacob Zuma declared 2011 “the Year of Economic Transformation and Job Creation”. The only way to achieve this objective is for us to ensure that we have skilled and capable workforce, by providing quality education and training. We also have a responsibility to address the skills shortage in critical areas such as engineering, science and Technology, professional careers, technicians, artisans and other trade related areas. The creation of the Department of Higher Education and Training presented an opportunity to integrate higher education and training with skills development. It further ensured an enhanced budget for skills development. The strategy is to produce on an ongoing basis a skilled and capable workforce for an inclusive growth path. In January this year, the Department launched an improved National Skills Development Framework III [NSDS III].The NSDS III is a strategic skills development framework, resulting from NSDS I&II, both of which were previously located in the Department of Labour. One of the fundamental principles of the strategy is to build partnerships with all stakeholders and to ensure that we improve the outcomes in skills development. The labour movement is one such critical partner. SETA’s Landscape The Department of Higher Education and Training through Sector Education and Training Authorities [SETA’s], is in the process of evaluating the outputs of NSDS II, and developing a five year implementation plan for NSDS III. Based on these outputs, the NSDS II links skills development to cater career paths, career development and the promotion of sustainable employment and work based experience. The strategy also puts an emphasis on forging partnerships between employers, public education institutions, SETA’s and private training providers, so as to ensure that inter-sectoral and cross-sectoral experiences are shared. The NSDS III talks to a vision and political will, to decisively shape the skills acquisition landscape, transfer of technology and education and training, which are all pillars of our economic participation and sustainable development. Our ultimate agenda is to support a thriving and a competitive economy, characterised by mass based and grass root participation, including rural based economic participation. The SETA’s are critical in the achievement of the NSDS II goals. Transformation of the SETA’s are underway to ensure that at least some fundamental areas of concern are addressed in order to accelerate their relevance and appropriateness in line with national priorities. The National Growth Path [NGP] policy compels us to deliver a radical review of the training system and to address shortfalls in areas of critical skills. The NGP also identifies the improvement in skills as one of the low hanging fruits, that could be accelerated so as realize the impact on poverty reduction and the promotion of social cohesion timorously. POPCRU has been mandated to chair all the Chambers at SASSETA, as well as to represent Labour at the National Skills Authority under COSATU. These are important institutions in the skills development landscape and your participation and input into these, will help to realize the desired output. I also need to remind you of the areas that need more attention from POPCRU, amongst others, the finalization of the SETA Representatives Accountability Guidelines, so as to ensure that Worker Control is asserted as and when comrades are mandated to represent the organization, and the roll-out of capacity building programmes to all members in all Provinces. Comrades, your participation in the SETA’s will take us forward and ensure that we work together towards building these institutions and ensuring that they play a significant role in the skills development revolution, but also that they claim their rightful place in the education and training landscape. A direct benefit for your members is that they can achieve professionalism and become a competent workforce in the eyes of the people through skills development and training for life. Organized Labour has a significant role to play in assisting the department to ensure that we build the SETA’s. We welcome the approach taken thus far and appeal that we continue to work together in ensuring that the process is given the respect and understanding it deserves. As the Department we will strive to do better and engage in consultations with various stakeholders. We must always be cognisant of the fact that skills development is not for its own sake, given the history of our country and the current context of inequality in particular. Hence in addition to addressing the critical skills shortage, skills development interventions must be socially transformative and ensure that the sectors are demographically representative and there are opportunities for all, taking into consideration issues of gender, disability and rural communities. Our budget will be aligned with the aforementioned developmental and transformative imperatives. Admittedly, the task at hand is complex and calls for mass mobilization as the Government policies and strategies around skills development are beginning to touch the raw nerve of the apartheid laager. Within our skills development pipeline workplace experience is non-negotiable. Key to this initiative is the training of young people in the workplace. We have an anomaly in South Africa, in that there are a high proportion of young people who require work placement for training purposes and they are unable to find it. Where they find it, there are challenges with regard to mentoring. Older workers should be urged to mentor and pass on experience to young employees instead of seeing them as a threat. As the Department we are pushing for all workplace to be opened up for training purposes and that Government, as an employer and the private sector should allow for the workplace to build the skills of this country. We need organized Labour to also play a part in this area and ensure that there is no exploitation and abuse of young workers in the form of cheap labour by employers. Also central to the NSDS III, is the support for the worker initiated training and the training that supports and builds the trade union members. Trade Union’s Worker Education and Training initiatives are able to use the critical networks of their organizations [eg.Shop Stewards and Union Officials], to educate their members and other workers to suit their needs in manner that is beneficial to the economy as a whole. To achieve this we need to plough the principle that a Shop Steward must be life-long learner who should strive to always broaden, deepen and enhance their understanding on how Trade Unions operate and that experience to galvanize power for and on behalf of workers is acquired by actually doing the practical work representing members diligently at all times. The POPCRU’s National Political School is a clear demonstration of the importance of the training of Union members. It has provided a necessary platform to bring to the fore the critical challenges facing worker education and working class, and deepening facing worker education and the working class, and deepening an understanding that; · Worker education is not neutral, · It has a specific orientation and must be controlled by workers, · It instils thinking, collectivism and deconstruction of dominant ideas, · It helps the working class to create its own intellectuals, and · It helps us to learn from history and shape a better understanding of our future Worker Education must also involve the youth and the youth and young workers within your structures to become more involved in organizing activities both in the workplaces and in the communities. One is pleased to note that POPCRU’s interest go beyond shop floor matters. It is an acknowledgement that you are members of the community before you are workers; and are political beings. It is with great pleasure to note that POPCRU supports initiatives such as the Global Week of Action for Human Rights to Water and Sanitation. In addition, your protest against social ills such as xenophobia attacks is commendable. In wishing you a successful Congress, I want to reiterate a few fundamentals; · POPCRU has a duty to defend fearlessly its motto, which is “Justice for All”. We are in democracy and all citizens have a right to fairness and respect at all times, irrespective of the circumstances and power relations they are subjected to, · Over the past year, there have been disturbing cases of some POPCRU Members being heard at the CCMA. Acts of humiliation, psychological torture, false accusations and many other social ills similar to those of the apartheid regime, which have led to some members feeling that the degree of cruelty and ill-treatment borders on the human rights violations of the apartheid era. The perceived silences and avoidance on the part of the organization is a serious cause for concern as that might be an indication of signs of an organization which is losing its grip and it’s outlawed all come from an era where we believed that an injury to one is an injury to all. Remember, at the time we adopted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, we committed ourselves to practices, policies and laws which guarantee and embrace dignity for all. We cannot afford to lose gains made. A related duty is to put anti-corruption measures in place. POPCRU has to be vigilant, vocal and act speedily when acts of corruption are suspected or confirmed. Defending and promoting administrative justice will improve the integrity and ethics of members and consequently the stature of the organization. I thank you!
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