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Memorandum from the Parliamentary Office
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 1523
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 10/06/2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 15 OF 2011)
Mr A P van der Westhuizen (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and
Training:
1 Whether there are currently any vacant positions in the National
Skills Authority; if so, (a) for how long have these positions been
vacant and (b) what steps are being taken to fill these vacancies;
2 (a) what measures are currently being considered to ensure the
independence of the National Skills Authority and (b)(i) how many times
did the National Skills Authority meet since 1 January 2010 and (ii) on
which dates did they meet?
NW1688
REPLY:
1. (a) Currently only 1 position of the National Skills Authority
(NSA) Executive Officer is vacant, the position has been vacant
since the transfer of the Skills Branch to the Department of Higher
Education Training November 2009. I have appointed the DDG Skills
Branch to act as the Executive Officer of the NSA. The position was
advertised in 02 May 2010 and closed in June 2010. I had instructed
my then DG Prof M Metcalfe not to proceed with the interview
processes as there were challenges with the process that was
followed.
b) I have instructed the Director General and the Acting Executive
Officer of the National Skills Authority to expedite the re
advertisement of the position. The position will be re
advertised no later than July this year and it is envisaged that
the Executive Officer of the NSA will assume duty before the end
of this year.
In addition the membership of the NSA constituted as per Chapter 2 of the
Skills Development Act recently experienced resignations. A total of 6
vacancies currently exist due to resignations (2 from state DTI and COGTA,
3 from Business, 1 from Private Employment Services. The relevant
departments and constituencies have been requested to expedite submission
of nominations for replacements of the resigned members.
2. (a) I met with the NSA at its first meeting in December 2009
to clarify the new landscape and my expectations for the NSA to
align to the post school education and training system. The advice
received from the NSA thus far amongst others includes the new SETA
landscape (2011-2016), the National Skills Development Strategy
2011-2016, (NSDS III), SETA administration and performance
resulting in placing underperforming SETAs under administration,
SETA regulations and Constitutions and I can with no doubt confirm
that the advice received from the NSA is independent. This degree
of independence however, should be increased by capacitating and
strengthening the NSA. The NSA has undertaken an exercise to
reposition itself to ensure that it responds to the new mandate of
the department. I have been presented with the NSA repositioning
proposal which I still have to consider, the proposal provides an
indication of the capacity requirements and relevant structures to
improve the efficiency and independence of the NSA. I have
scheduled a workshop with the NSA to further discuss amongst others
the repositioning proposal and other pertinent issues in relation
to advice on the skills development policy issues.
b) (i) The National Skills Authority meetings are scheduled to sit
six (6) times a year; to date the NSA including its special
meeting has met 4 times this excludes the NSA Executive
Committee meetings and subcommittee meetings. In 2010 all 6
meetings were held.
(ii) This year the National Skills Authority met on 24-25
February, 29 March 15 April and 10 June. In 2010 the National
Skills Authority met on 18-19 February, 16 April, 11 June, 13
August, 08 October, 19 November and 02-03 Dec 2010.
Compiler/contact persons: Sally Mangubewa
Ext: 5666
ACTING DIRECTOR â GENERAL
STATUS:
DATE:
QUESTION 1523 APPROVED/NOT APPROVED/AMENDED
Dr B NZIMANDE, MP
MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
STATUS:
DATE: