Address by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande on the occasion of the Black Business Council 2022 Summit
Programme Director
President of the BBC, Mr Elias Monage and the Leadership collective of the BBC
BBC Chief Executive Officer, Mr Kganki Matabane
BBC membership
Ladies and Gentlemen
I greet you all this afternoon
It is my pleasure to be joining you once-more at this annual Black Business Council (BBC) summit, during the Month of May, the Africa month.
This summit is held under the theme:
“Creating Jobs and Growing the Economy Through Supporting Localisation, Industrialisation, SMMEs, Black Owned-, Women-Owned and Youth-Owned Businesses”
I am requested to speak on the role of skills development and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in economic growth.
Let me indicate that our initiatives of both my Department of Higher Education and Training and the Department of Science and Innovation are guided by the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), where President Ramaphosa emphasised the need for a new social compact between government, business, social partners and communities to grow the economy.
Both my departments are working together to contribute towards the revitalisation of our economy in the areas of their mandates.
The President highlighted the need for a new social compact to grow the economy, while reinforcing critical areas of focus, including –
(a) overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic;
(b) a massive rollout of infrastructure;
(c) a substantial increase in local production;
(d) an employment stimulus to create jobs and support livelihoods;
(e) rapid expansion of the country’s energy generation capacity.
Therefore, both my department of Higher Education and Science and Innovation initiatives are supported by the Fourth Industrial Revolution to contribute to the realisation of the goals of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Programme (ERRP).
Ladies and gentlemen
In 2020, I appointed an independent panel to review the Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Institutional Landscape (HESTIIL).
The panel was mandated to develop a description and depiction of the current higher education, science, technology and innovation landscape and to conduct an analysis of the capacity (including financial capacity) of existing institutions to support post-school education and training and our national system of innovation in order to achieve the National Development Plan (NDP) targets and beyond.
The panel also assessed what needs to be done to produce knowledge in a multi-disciplinary context spanning the natural and social sciences, and the humanities, including applied research for policy development and technology development for economic competitiveness and improved quality of life.
The panel was to assess both existing and needed infrastructure to drive science, technology and innovation (STI) in the country. I will be releasing this report for public comment before the end of this year.
Again, as part of ensuring greater whole-of-government and whole-of-society innovation, we have already begun with a new institutional architecture to build better coordination, cohesion and direction in how STI resources are used.
Our belief and mandate is that we cannot grow and develop our economy growing forward without putting STI at the centre and in the service of our developmental objectives and agenda.
Firstly, we have already begun with the work of the standing ministerial-level STI committee, involving key ministries, and chaired by myself. Secondly, the President of the Republic will host an annual STI Plenary which will include business, government, academia and civil society. This will place the STI issues at the centre of the national developmental agenda.
through the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) we have initiated the Sector Innovation Fund (SIF) programmes aimed at encouraging the private sector to increase its investment into research, development and innovation.
The pilot phase of the Sector Innovation Fund (SIF) programme was implemented in 2014/15, with the second four (4) year phase commencing in 2018/19.
In the past two years, there have been seven SIF programmes in the following sectors: horticulture (post-harvest innovation), citrus, minerals processing, forestry, paper manufacturing, wine and sugar milling.
Cabinet has also adopted a Draft Decadal Plan, whose main objective is to mainstream STI into our economy and society, through forging partnerships that will also take our percentage of GDP investment into research and development from the current 0,83 to 1,5% by 2030.
I invite black business to actively engage and participate in STI initiatives and interventions so as to harness science in the service of broader economic growth and development of our country. Black business must take a much more active interest in matters of STI.
Through the Department of Higher Education, we have begun a process of crafting a one country one Master Skills Plan which will promote a more efficient and effective mechanism for our country-wide skills planning.
Our latest National List of Occupations in High Demand (OIHD) in South Africa, which I have publicly announced, is one of the many instruments that guides government investment in skills development.
In this list, we have identified 345 occupations that are in high demand out of a total of 1500 registered in our Organising Framework for Occupations.
This list is updated every two years, and marks an important step towards helping us understand better the needs of the labour market and signals opportunities where our students and graduates are likely to stand a better chance of finding employment.
This list tells us which occupations are likely to have what vacancies and which occupations are likely to grow due to new investments, especially by government.
Many of the occupations on the list can be associated with key areas and sectors identified as crucial for the Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, such as the digital economy, energy, infrastructure development, manufacturing, tourism and agriculture, data scientists, web developer, computer network technician, electrical engineer, concentrated solar power process controller, mechatronic technician, toolmaker, gaming worker, crop produce analyst, agricultural scientist.
Some of you may also recall that in 2018, we embarked on a campaign to launch 26 Centres of Specialisation located in 19 of our 50 TVET colleges, prioritising 13 occupational trades in high demand, with the aim of curbing the shortage of trade and occupational skills while reducing unemployment and poverty in our country.
The 19 colleges were selected following a rigorous process undertaken by teams of education and industry experts, including the National Skills Fund, to identify trades that are in demand for the government’s national infrastructure programme as well as other strategic programmes.
Further to this, these 26 centres were provided with resources to upgrade their workshops and equipment to deliver effectively on these much-needed skills.
The Centres of Specialisation are well positioned to prepare students for the workplace, or for self-employment, through the maintenance of close working relationships with employers in their areas of study.
As a department we acknowledge that the need for education, skilling and reskilling of our society is a joint and collaborative effort that requires all our spheres of government, as well as the private sector to work together.
At this point I would like to highlight that one of the biggest challenges we have as a department is that of finding workplaces, especially for students in our universities of technology and TVET colleges particularly, for purposes of completion of students’ qualifications.
Experiences in technical and vocational education globally tells us that the SME sector often plays a leading role in the provision of internships, learnerships and apprenticeships to young people.
If you were to ask me as to what my most important messages are to you today, it would include the following. Firstly, that all SMEs should create space for learnerships and apprenticeships in their operations. SMEs normally provide the best training spaces because their operations are smaller in size and there is much more-closer attention to supervision of trainees.
The second message is that the task of skills development is a joint effort between government, colleges/universities and industry. Many young people who have for instance finished their theoretical training in TVET colleges are sitting at home unemployed because they have not had work placement and exposure.
It is for this reason that the President committed to the placements of 10 000 unemployed TVET graduates who require work experience in order to complete their studies and training, and so also they get employed or are able to start their own small businesses or enterprises. This would be in line with our clarion call as a Ministry that every workplace must be a training space!
Ladies and gentlemen
Since 2013, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) RDI Roadmap was established to direct investments in ICT-related RDI. However, there has been a rapid technological change, driven primarily by technology development that enables the fusion of the physical and digital worlds (4IR).
To respond adequately to this, our Decadal Plan (2021-2031) identified six foundational digital domains on which South Africa should focus its resources for the next 10 years, namely, artificial intelligence, robotics and cybernetics; augmented, virtual and mixed reality; modelling and simulation; blockchain and cybersecurity; the Internet of Things, cloud-to-edge computing and networking; and quantum computing.
Investment in these domains will enable STI to provide opportunities for new sources of economic and social development.
I invite black business and all SMEs to partner with us in this journey of use of modern digital technologies to address economic growth and development in our country, as well as your own business enterprises.
As part of supporting the work in digital technologies, I have instructed the National Skills Fund to prioritise the training of young people in the various digital skills needed in our economy.
To encourage the private sector to invest in research and development, Government has extended the current tax research incentives dispensation until the 31st December 2023. This will allow for certainty and planning around incentives.
I literally go through all recommended approvals for tax incentives before submitting these to SARS, I must say I am not seeing much of black business applications investing in research and development. This might seem to be a small matter, but has fundamental implications in terms of our attempts to transforming business and the economy of our country.
If you have not done it already, I urge the BBC to form a dedicated STI working group to help better inform you on how to harness new technologies and invest in research and development in support of your businesses and effective black participation in the economy! This is another very important message I am leaving with you today! I am prepared to make available our STI institutions within the DSI to work with you on this score!
Beyond this, we are firmly committed to leveraging both public and private resources to increase gross domestic investment in research and development as I outlined earlier.
Ladies and gentlemen
I am encouraged by the projection that the skills levy that is recovered from employers who contribute 1% of the skills levy towards the skills system will increase from R18.9 billion in 2021/22 to R20.6 billion in 2022/23. We also have taken a decision to prioritize this sector by re-allocating additional funds from the National Skills Fund.
This will make it possible that we fund our skills development commitments.
As part of my service level agreement with the SETAs, they will incorporate government priorities, especially on those aimed at addressing the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality as part of building an inclusive economy.
SETAs Annual Performance Plans (APPs) for 2022/23 already incorporate interventions to address skills challenges in various sectors of the economy and country in general.
In support of the ERRP, our skills development system will increase learners placed in Work-based Learning programmes from 78 317 in 2020/21 to 107 000 in 2022/23. We want to lead by example, but we need your partnership.
We will also Increase our learners registered in skills development programmes from 43 885 in 2020/21 to 148 000 in 2022/23 and increase our learners entering artisanal programmes from 10 302 in 2020/21 to 22 000 in 2022/23.
We project that 20 500 learners will pass artisan trade test in 2022/23, an increase from 15 107 in 2020/21.
Learners who complete llearnerships will also increase from 24 136 in 2020/21 to 31 300 in this financial year and learners who complete internships will stabilize at 5 200.
The SETAs combined, placed 44 619 unemployed into learnerships, of which over 34 710 were young people below the ages of 35 years old and over 25 550 were females at the cost of about R 1 billion.
In the previous financial year, we SETAs placed 9 901 interns, of which 9 096 were young people below the age of 35 years old and 6 455 were females. Our SETAs spent just over R883 million in this regard.
For TVET placement, SETAs placed about 8 539 learners with females at 5 656 at the cost at the total cost of R393 million.
For the university placement, SETAs placed 5 183 learners in workplaces at the value of R300 million.
We have also established entrepreneurship hubs at TVET Colleges to support students to move into self-employment after completion of their programmes.
Both our Universities and TVET Colleges curricula are being reviewed and strengthened to be relevant to skills required by local employers, communities and the economy.
On the other hand, ninety five percent (95%) of SETAs are targeted to meet standards of good governance, with 100% of their allocated SETA Mandatory Grants paid to employers.
SETAs will process qualifying trade test applications within forty (40) days of receipt for trade testing and develop credible Sector Skills Plans. They will also produce reports on the implementation of the Skills Strategy.
To further ensure the rapid skilling and training of our youth, particularly those in rural and townships, we are going to focus our attention to their training in areas such as agriculture and information and communication technologies.
Our SETAs will be supporting my Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in the development of critical high-end skills in selected technology areas such as the bioeconomy, space science, technology energy, intellectual property management.
As part of ensuring that we financially support students from poor and working-class backgrounds, whilst also putting a sustainable mechanism in place to support students from the so-called ‘missing middle’ and postgraduate students, through National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in 2022/23, we have allocated R49 billion for student funding.
Our National Skills Fund will also provide budget support for scholarships and bursaries amounting to R866 million.
Collectively our SETAs spent R701.9 million in support of the missing middle students and in this current financial year they will be spending R1 billion.
Over a five-year period 2017/18 to 2021/22, our Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) has awarded bursaries to more than 58 000 postgraduate students.
This comprises 43 262 pipeline (honours/BTech and Master’s) postgraduate bursaries and 15 483 PhD bursaries.
However, the total number of postgraduate students supported annually has dropped to about 8 000 in the 2021/22 financial year due to our introduction of our new Postgraduate Funding Policy that provides for Full Cost of Support for particular categories of students, particularly the financially needy students, students with disabilities and exceptional academic achievers.
In the same five-year period, a total of 4 995 graduates and students were placed in the DSI funded work preparation programmes, mostly within the government’s Internship programme and the Youth Volunteering programme.
A significant number of these students go on to secure tenured employment from their host institutions, and other institutions.
A total of 18 746 researchers were funded through the National Research Foundation (NRF)-managed programmes and 41 635 research articles were published by researchers awarded grants in the same period; with 3 201 researchers and 8 687 research articles supported and produced respectively in the outer year of 2021/22.
A Significant contribution of research articles and postgraduate student training emanated from the strategic research programmes, i.e. South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) and Centres of Excellence (CoEs) Programme. The Department supported 252 research chairs and 14 CoEs.
We will continue to implement the new Postgraduate funding Policy with more than 6 000 postgraduate (2 200 PhD and 4 200 pipeline) students targeted for support in the 2022/23 financial year and we will also provide support to 3 000 researchers in the current financial year.
Ladies and gentlemen
As a department, we remain committed to strengthening and developing the PSET sector by investing in infrastructure to provide quality teaching, learning and research and innovation spaces.
In my previous address to this Summit, I indicated that we will be building a new University of Science and Innovation and a new Crime Detection University.
Programme Director, I am glad to report to this Summit that we now have
capitalise the feasibility studies of these new institutions through the Infrastructure and Efficiency Grant (IEG) to the value of R6 million.
We are also reviewing our current existing model of cooperation with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), to make it more effective and in line with our plans of use our PSET infrastructure to stimulate economic development and inclusion.
The total amount currently available for investment in infrastructure projects across the 26 universities during the 2022/23 to 2023/24 MTEF period is R7.584 billion with R2.953 billion going towards student housing for the delivery of 16 858 beds across 11 universities (15 898 new beds and 960 refurbished beds).
As I said in our budget vote presentation, we acknowledge the fact that R2.953 billion is inadequate for student accommodation, therefore would like to partner with you as business to ensure that we build the state-of the-art student accommodation in our country.
I have also revitalised and expanded the Imbali Education and Innovation Precinct project as a pilot to explore and test an alternative modality of education delivery, based on closer multi-educational institutional co-operation, closer articulation, with science and innovation linkages.
This integration will ensure that we produce a well- rounded student who is ready to take up their positions within our economy and society. For this project we have allocated R90 million in our fourth Infrastructure and Efficiency Grant (IEG) cycles (2015/16-2017/18).
The next precinct to be established will be in Giyani in Limpopo, where will be setting up a university campus as well.
We have set aside R10 million for the expansion and relocation of the University of Zululand teacher training faculty to the former Zululand Parliamentary Precinct at Ulundi. This amount will cover planning costs and project initiation financial requirements.
I am pleased to report that in the current financial year, we have added a number of campus level projects to our TVET infrastructure initiative to the combined investment of R2.9 billion.
As I conclude, South Africa will be first country in Africa to host the World Science Forum (WSF), which is a biennial international conference series on global science policy, which brings together leading scientists, researchers, private sector players, civil society and global media to discuss the challenges facing science and societies in the 21st century.
I invite you all to this hybrid event which will be held from the 5th to 9th December 2022 in Cape Town.
Once more, let me take this opportunity to thank the Black Business Council executive, led by President Elias Monage for inviting me.
I wish you a successful Summit!
Source: Government of South Africa