Bismark Lubisi
11 February 2005
South Africa will start importing skilled workers to address some of the country's skills shortages, says Labour Department Director-General Vanguard Mkosana.
Mkosana said the move would form part of the new national skills development strategy for 2005 to 2010, to be introduced during the National Skills Conference in March.
"We will import some of those skills that are not available in South Africa and are urgently needed", he told delegates at a provincial growth and development strategy summit in Mpumalanga this week.
"This will be coupled with the training of our local people", he added.
Mkosana said that under the current skills development strategy, South Africa had trained more than four million workers through the 25 sector education and training authorities (Setas) over the past four years.
Each Seta focuses on a different job sector, but most focused on training workers in the cities.
Mkosana said that over the next five years, the new Seta landscape would "unlock the potential of the authorities to service the people of South Africa beyond the confines of the few cities".
Provincial and local government structures have been identified as the most strategic partners in skills development, he said.
Source: BuaNews
