SA needs a Skills Revolution and the working class must take responsibility for it
This week I attended an important gathering of UNESCO, focusing on sharing experiences on how to strengthen technical and vocational education (TVET). An important consensus was reached that good and quality TVET is critical for inclusive economic development in general, and for human development in particular. As we discuss the implementation of a new growth path, the industrial policy action plan 3 and rollout the infrastructure plan in our country it is absolutely essential that the matter of skills development be prioritized. This is an essential component of micro economic transformation.
As we debate the notion of a developmental state we need to realize that for the state to be developmental it needs capacity and state capacity cannot be build on the backbone of an unskilled working class. The skills and capacity are even more critical for Socialism as under socialism we will need more capacity and efficiency to address the needs of the overwhelming majority of the workers and the poor, with the working class playing its leading role. Skills development should feature as prominently alongside the living and social campaigns.
To bring about rising living standards and a better life for all our people, South Africa must have an increasingly productive economy which creates decent jobs for workers on a large scale. Our workers must, steadily but decisively, improve their educational and skills levels, especially their technical and vocational skills. This will enable our country to set out on a new and sustainable growth path, with a regenerated manufacturing industry and the new jobs that will accompany this.
Manufacturing will not only create new jobs in the actual production of goods, but also stimulate other employment in services such as transport or telecommunications and even encourage further development in primary industry such as mining and agriculture.
In order to achieve all this it is essential for the country to undergo a skills revolution - a process that must make certain that every citizen is trained to a high level and can contribute productively to social and economic development. This will ensure that we overcome the effects of job reservation and cheap labour which was such an important part of the strategy of oppressive colonial and apartheid regimes for over a century. Job reservation did not allow blacks to do skilled work - and so prevented most South Africans from becoming skilled artisans, technicians or managers and banned them from all but a few professions. Since 1994, we have done surprisingly little to overcome the effects of this legacy.