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Over the past few months, South Africans have had to adapt to a new normal. Staying at home to help contain the virus has meant changing how we structure our day and go about living our lives. COVID-19 has also changed how we work and use technology to bridge the distance between us. The LGSETA Limpopo Provincial Office set the tone amidst the pandemic by being the first provincial office to host its first virtual SDF Forum.
The coordination of the District SDF Forum presented a few challenges for the provincial office. As this was a learning curve, the SDFs concerns for not attending the meetings ranged from the fear of technology and using the electronic mediums as a tool for engagement. However, the team were patient and ready to step in to help with the challenges that arose.
The Limpopo provincial office was faced with yet another quarter after failing to attain its Provincial SDF Forum target for 2019/2020 in Quarter 4 due to the wake of the pandemic. The LGSETA’s ICT team had already made a virtual meeting platform available (Microsoft Teams), and quite a number of internal meetings were virtually held during lockdown. The provincial office saw an opportunity of using the virtual meeting platform to host a virtual Provincial SDF Forum.
Given the large number of attendees who may be required to be part of the SDF Forum, the office was concerned about the kind of response from stakeholders who were not well acquainted with virtual meetings. A simple and effective solution was to go on a pilot run with a few attendees so as to introduce them to the concept of virtual meetings. A small number also means better management and control of the meeting.
“It was not easy to get everyone on board during the SDF Forums. The reasons given by SDFs for not attending ranged from either not being present in the province or not being in the office but on lockdown” said Margaret Marakalala – Limpopo Provincial Manager.
After much consultation with the SDFs, it became clear that this was more of fear of technology than anything else. However, the Limpopo provincial office team was not discouraged at all but spent time assisting SDFs to navigate around attending the meeting after receiving an invitation.
With much delight, Ms Marakalala expressed that once that exercise was done and the SDFs were a lot more comfortable, an invitation for a bigger SDF Forum was sent, and amazingly, it did not even take more than 15 minutes to get everyone joined in for the meeting. “Our municipalities are now confident and acquainted with the virtual meetings. We now want to start monitoring our projects using the same virtual meeting platform” stated Ms Marakalala.
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) hosted its North West Provincial Members Association (PMA) meeting in January 2020. The event was held over two days, and the programme included an array of speakers as well as panel discussions. The LGSETA was part of the agenda and presented its role as a partner and stakeholder in the local government sector. Using the platform, the LGSETA shared with the delegates its mandate, interventions it has rolled out in the province, successes as well as limitations in implementation within the province.
From numerous stakeholder engagement activities that were held by the LGSETA North West provincial office, the office has earned numerous achievements. The SALGA relationship is also one of the many positive outcomes which are yielding positive results. From the PMA involvement, the LGSETA is becoming a standard agenda item in numerous governance structures in municipalities.
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Recently, the LGSETA was allocated a slot in the SALGA municipal capacity building and sustainability working group. The chairperson of the working group Cllr Sheila Mabale Huma, who is the speaker for Rustenburg Local Municipality, has committed to ensuring that speakers in the North West are carrying an oversight role of the LGSETA programmes, in their respective councils.
A commitment on this action was part of the communication to the speaker’s forum held on 14 February 2020. The interest is to ensure that the skills development agenda does not only rest with Skills Development Facilitators (SDFs), but rather it becomes an integrated activity aligned to the municipalities planning and actions. With the LGSETA work being mainstreamed and supported with oversight from accounting authorities, it is expected that outcomes will be greater with notable impact in the local government sector. This is the intend-ed consequence for the mandate of the LGSETA, and expected stakeholder benefits.
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Going forward, the LGSETA seeks to intensify its relations with stakeholders to ensure, not only implementation occurs, but ownership, monitoring and impact is obtained from partners where interventions are happening.
On 12 March 2019, the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA) attended the National Skills Development Summit, held at the Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria. The National Skills Development Summit 2019 was a two-day event which brought together public and private sector stakeholders. The event focused on issues including collaboration with stakeholders as a key strategy to supporting skills development as well as technology and innovation in light of the implications of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) across various sectors.
The Achiever Awards also formed part of the programme on Day one of the National Skills Development Summit. The LGSETA nominated the Stellenbosch School of Public Leadership (SPL) in the category for the best innovative training programme award. It was great excitement for both the LGSETA and the SPL to attend the Achievers Award ceremony and more so when Dr Harlan Cloete received the award on behalf of SPL for the most innovative training programme.
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The award for the best skills programme, “Human Resource Development for Good Municipal Governance” represents a great achievement not only for the SPL but also for the LGSETA. The Acting CEO of the LGSETA, Ms Nonhle Mashinini, praised the SPL by stating, “we want to thank SPL for giving the best that the country deserves, we are proud to be associated with you”.
The development of the development of the higher education skills programme titled ‘Human Resource Development (HRD) for Good Municipal Governance’ is pitched at NQF level 6 and was based on recommendations of research commissioned by the LGSETA. The first phase of the training started in 2018 and was aimed at capacitating Skills Development Facilitators (SDFs) and a total of 341 SDFs from municipalities were trained across the nine provinces. The feedback from the training was extremely positive by participants.
The LGSETA partnership agreement with the SPL started in 2016, whereby the LGSETA commissioned SPL to undertake research titled ‘The Challenges faced by the Municipal Skills Development Facilitator in the Planning and Implementation of Skills Development Interventions’ in South Africa. The research report was published in 2017 and placed the crises in municipalities on 6 levels namely:
- HRD policy problem;
- Organisation of HRDin Municipalities managed in a centralised way;
- Ethical Valuesrelating to HRD not being practised;
- Practice of HRDalmost exclusively recognises training as the only way in which people develop;
- Internal democracy generally absent;
- Stakeholder supportnamely senior managers, the LGSETA and SALGA were perceived to be not actively supporting HRD in municipalities;
The report concludes by recommending that the Integrated Management Framework for HRD be implemented in municipalities in order to begin to address the relationship between managers, employees and the HR Department.
As part of the continuing strategy of LGSETA to build capacity on HRD issues in and across municipalities, the skills training programme was revised to a four-days in 2019 and extended to Municipal Human Resource Management Officials and members of the Training Committee.
The skills programme in HRD for Good Municipal Governance is linked to the Diploma: Public Accountability, NQF Level 6, ID 94948 offered by SPL, Stellenbosch University. The participants receive a certificate based on meeting the requirements and can further continue their studies to achieve the Level 6 Qualification in Public Accountability.
The LGSETA has developed an evidence-based research model to investigate specific research topics, which form part of the approved Research Agenda. The recommendations from the research on investigating challenges of SDFs across municipalities was the first research that the LGSETA has implemented using the evidence-based model. A customised training programme was developed which then resulted in training being conducted to a targeted audience. In particular, the skills programme provides participants with a holistic and integrated approach and understanding of Human Resource Development. It also helps participants to appreciate the need for better collaboration, cooperation, coordination, communication and capacity of all municipal actors to improve the overall management culture of skills planning and development in South African municipalities.
The LGSETA will roll out Phase 3 of the training in the 2019/2020 financial year with the continued focus on building capacity of Management Officials and Training Committee members. The partnership between SPL and LGSETA has shown the benefits of the model which started with conducting research, leading to customised training and with the aim of improving practice and impact in the workplace. As a way forward, it would be most useful to further investigate whether the training has resulted in any changes in the way HRD is practised in municipalities. The monitoring and evaluation of any training programme is important so that the investment in training can be measured in order to determine impact as well as the growth of individuals and the organisation. HRD plays a critical role in the workplace and there is a need to ensure that there are healthy HRD practices in municipalities to effect change and support employees, as it impacts on the morale and productivity of the workforce.
LGSETA recently established a partnership with the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) to develop and implement a training intervention programme as well as to, advance research and training capacity to promote the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDSIII).
One of the important aspects of the National Skills development strategy is to promote partnerships between employers, public education institutions such as VUT, private training providers and Setas.
In the agreement, the VUT has undertaken to offer a training intervention programme to the LGSETA for individuals within the local government structures such as, include councillors, traditional leaders, municipal officials and unemployed people.
The programme will focus on several priority areas including:
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Management and leadership development
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Infrastructure and service delivery
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Community based participation and planning
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Financial management
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Workplace training systems
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Research
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Adult education and training.
Maluti A Phofung is the municipality in Free State found in Thabo Mofutsanyana District. The municipality has the population of 334 784. Amongst the challenges facing the municipality include but not limited to, high unemployment especially among the youth, shortage of skills, very limited manufacturing industry firms which lead to migration of labour force to other cities, poverty and crime. The unemployment rate is 41, 8 % and it is reported to be standing at 53% amongst the youth of age between (15-35 years).
To turn the situation around, the municipality identified the following areas for development:
· Develop pool of skills and training opportunities
· Facilitating opportunities for SMME’s in procurement at MAP;
· Supporting the Poverty Alleviation projects;
· Facilitating Agriculture, Tourism, Manufacturing and SMME Development Value Adding and Market Access opportunities;
· Developing an Investment Attraction and Marketing Strategy for MAP;
· Facilitating for finance, funds and resources from non-governmental, private and donor sectors;
· Facilitating opportunities for SMME’s in procurement at MAP;
· Attract tourists and investors to the region.”
The Minister of Higher Education and Training, the honourable Dr Blade Nzimande, and the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, the honourable Mr Mduduzi Manana made a call to all the SETAs, TVET colleges and Higher Education Institutions to assist with the development and training of Artisans.
The ministry in particular, challenged the SETAs to respond to the two initiatives, namely “2013 Year of the Artisan Programme” and also “2014 -2024 Decade of the Artisan “. The initiatives find expression in the National Development Plan which indicates that by 2030 the country should be producing 30 000 qualified artisans per year. This target has been brought forward by the 2014 – 2020 Medium Term Strategic Framework to 31 March 2026.
Maluti A Phofung falls under SIP 2 which is Durban – Free State – Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor.
The main objective of this SIP is to:
- Strengthen the logistics and transport corridor between SA’s main industrial hubs.
- Improve access to Durban’s export and import facilities.
- Integrate Free State Industrial Strategy activities into the corridor.
- New port in Durban.
- Aerotropolis around OR Tambo International Airport.
Maluti A Phofung, has been declared a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). These are designated areas in the country with specific economic activity like the logistical hub between the N5 and N3. The Industrial Policy Action Plan – IPAP also SEZ areas as the key contributors to economic development. They are growth engines towards government’s strategic objectives of industrialisation, regional development and employment creation.
LGSETA Intervention
Maluti A Phofung Local Municipality applied for funding in 2014/15 to the LGSETA, the initial request was for to train 300 beneficiaries in various trades which included plumbing, welding, motor mechanic and body spraying. Only 100 applications met the compliance requirements for contracting.
The LGSETA has contracted with Maluti A Phofung Local Municipality and has allocated funding of R13, 950 million over a three year period for the implementation of the project which commenced in November 2015. The intervention will be delivered between Maluti TVET College and private providers.
The launch that took place on 25 April 2016 at the Phuthaditjaba Multi-Purpose Center in QwaQwa where the partnership and project initiative was officially announced to the community within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District and to highlight the importance of the project within the Free State as it addresses some of the national imperatives. The project was officially launched by the Deputy Minister of Higher education and Training, Mr. Mduduzi Manana as part of the “Decade of the Artisan” initiative he is championing.
The successful implementation of this project will translate into job creation, poverty alleviation and SMME development within the region.
The LGSETA was honoured to be part of a graduation ceremony to congratulate employees within the local government sector who received their Municipal Finance qualifications. The Wits Business School hosted an auspicious event on Thursday 26 May 2016 at The University Of Johannesburg, Parktown to award over 150 Municipal Officials including some Executive Mayors with Certificates in Municipal Executives ‘Financial Management and Certificates in Municipal Finance and Supply Chain Management . This was another successful initiative funded by the LGSETA.
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