Hon Deputy President, hon Minister and members, we must all agree that human resources constitute the ultimate basis for the wealth creation of nations. Capital and natural resources are the passive factors of production, while human beings are the active agents who accumulate capital, exploit natural resources, build social and economic organisations, and carry forward national development.
Clearly, a country which is unable to develop the skills and knowledge of its people and to utilise them effectively in the national economy will be unable to develop. It is therefore logically held that education and training are wise investments for increasing employment and earnings, and are hence necessary ingredients for growth and job creation.
The NDP suggests an education system that strives to improve the quality of education for the majority of learners. By 2030 South Africa needs an education system with the following attributes. It must have further and higher education and training that: enable people to fulfil their potential; increase the graduation rate by 75%; produce 30 000 artisans per year; increase participation rates to 25%; and create an additional 1 million learning opportunities per year.
However, managers, when hiring staff, also normally put a premium on experience. In five African countries managers identified work experience as more important for hiring decisions than technical skills and education.
In building on what works in international education, and ongoing policy research aimed at helping to improve the national education system, it is important to note that apprenticeship programmes, fostering the integration of education and learning through jobs, exist in various shapes around the world.
The dual model deeply rooted in Germany and other European countries combines classroom-based expertise with learning on the job in the training company. This dual system is credited with fast and structured employment integration.
But the dual system requires more than the right economic incentives. It is based on a social contract between employers, trade unions and government.
The South African labour market is very different from that of other developing countries. In South Africa, according to the household-based Quarterly Labour Force Survey, QLFS, it was estimated that about 4,5 million workers are unemployed or, according to the statistics released yesterday, 25,2% "narrow" unemployment. The NDP specifies that the "narrow" unemployment rate should decline to 14% by 2020 and to only 6% by 2030. It translates to the fact that the total number of new employment opportunities should increase from 13 million to 24 million, and the labour participation rate should increase from 54% to 65% by 2030.
The QLFS further found that high unemployment rates are generally associated with lower levels of education and a lack of training. It was established that in the fourth quarter of 2012 about 61,3% of unemployed people did not have matric, while only 6,2% of the unemployed had tertiary qualifications.
I am going to address Programme 4: Vocational and Continuing Education, and the following will have to be implemented if we want to be successful. Firstly, effective vocation-orientated education relies on high quality educators, and I think that has been said before. The FET system must ensure that such teachers have adequate knowledge of and orientation to the workplace and its demands.
The DA acknowledge that numerous training initiatives for basic FET administrative skills are in progress and that 12 FET colleges are planned to be built by 2014, of which six are planned for this financial year. Minister, this is a step in the right direction.
But funds must also be allocated by Setas to support and enhance identified focus schools and training institutions. The current budgeted income for Setas is a staggering almost R10 billion per annum. The question can well be asked if this is being spent effectively, taking into account the problems encountered with fraud and maladministration within the Setas.
Some of the findings causing most concern in the Setas' annual reports for 2012 noted by the Auditor-General, AG, include the following. Irregular expenditure increased by more than 100%, from R160 million in 2011 to R402 million in 2012, mainly due to irregularities in supply chain management. The Local Government Seta received a disclaimer for its financial statements and also for its predetermined objectives, because - listen to this - it simply failed to submit its annual report! Material misstatements were also problematic, with the AG routinely indicating that the reported information was not useful or reliable.
These days certification is the key to the employment market and the recent spate of training institutions and Setas failing to provide students who have completed their courses with their certificates is unacceptable. In December 2012 the department appointed a steering committee to investigate the huge backlog of certificates at the Services Seta. However, almost six months have passed and we are still waiting for reports on the committee's progress. The Services Seta has indicated that all certificate backlogs will have been addressed by June 2013. The DA will monitor any progress or lack thereof regarding this matter.
The target of 100% of registered FET candidates having received their results and certificates was included in the previous financial year and also in this financial year. Last year's targets were woefully missed, while R187 million was allocated to this subprogramme to deal with this issue!
A reply to a DA question revealed that 22 190 FET certificates had been outstanding for more than six months. Minister Nzimande committed his department to a July 2012 deadline. A DA fact-finding exercise involving a sample of FET colleges in July and August revealed, however, that the Minister had not met his commitment to delivering the outstanding certificates. Another example is the Northern Cape Urban FET College in Kimberley, which revealed that more than 200 learners were yet to receive their course certificates. Some of these certificates have been outstanding since 2009!
Furthermore, the Department of Higher Education and Training revealed that 8 580 Seta certificates have been outstanding for more than six months. Minister, these incompetencies cannot be tolerated and the department should have taken steps to rectify the matter before it got out of control.
In conclusion, the DA is not convinced that the Seta system contributes effectively to training our students in the much-needed skills that are required. We in the DA are concerned that the department is not delivering on what is required of it, as envisaged in the National Development Plan, and does not exercise the necessary control over the FET system, resulting in mismanagement of funds and a lack of delivery of sufficient trained people, who are needed for the growth of our economy. Thank you. [Applause.]