SACP STATEMENT ON REMARKS MADE BY MR BLUMENTHAL

The SACP has noted wild allegations made by Mr Ivor Blumenthal, the CEO of Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) with respect to the ongoing transformation of the SETA's undertaken by the Minister of Higher Education.

The allegation that the Minister wants to control SETA's in order to be able to fund the SACP and that Mr Blumenthal has been approached on two occasions to fund the SACP are baseless, incorrect and are rejected by the SACP with contempt.

This is an attempt to blackmail the Minister not to undertake the revolutionary changes that he is on the verge of introducing. Clearly these remarks must be seen in the context of the last kicks of a dying horse. In this case the horse is kicking without technique and can injure not only those next to it but itself.

The SACP is not funded by some doggy means of redirecting public funds to itself.

As the SACP we welcome the thoroughgoing changes that the Minister of Higher Education has introduced in the SETA landscape. For years skills development and training has been a sector left to the hands of some few white elites who collaborated with their black cronies to empower themselves at the expense of the majority of our people.

Tenderpreneurs in the skills sector like Mr Blumenthal are trembling and are desperate to protect their fair share of the cake. Now, working together, it is time to make radical changes for the better.

Statement issued by Malesela Maleka, SACP Spokesperson, April 14 2011

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