Chair, it is generally agreed that the Setas needed to be tightened up, both in terms of governance and their mandate, and this Bill goes a long way towards achieving this. There are, however, a number of areas of concern.
Setas, of course, must have an accounting authority and the final decision regarding the appointment of both the chairs and CEOs would be made by the Minister. Stakeholders have expressed concerns that the composition of the accounting authority is not sufficiently reflected in the Act, although it is addressed in Schedule 5.
The feeling is that it should be more overt, particularly in respect of the chairpersons and CEOs, to ensure meritorious appointments, rather than political ones. This would be consistent with the proposals in the National Development Plan. Skills development is very important, not to have technocrats running the organisation, and this point needs to be addressed.
Induction and capacity building, while, in principle, also good things, create waves as employers do not always take kindly to having staff away during production time. This is as much an issue to union representatives as it is for employer representatives. The ACDP will be supporting his Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]