Address by The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, on the occasion of the launch of Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) Smart Skills Centre, Saldana Bay, Western Cape

Programme Director;
Executive Mayor, Mr Andre Truter;
Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) Accounting Authority (AA) Chairperson, Ms Wezi Khoza;
Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICTSETA) Accounting Authority (AA) Chairperson, Mr Simphiwe Thobela;
Accounting Authorities members of both the SETAS;
CHIETA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Yershen Pillay;
MICT Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Matome Madibana;
Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Kaashifah Beukes;
Paramount Chief of the Aikonese Cochoqua Khoi Tribal Council, Mr Kevin Mart;
Saldanha Bay IDZ Board Member: Mr Irvan Esau;
Saldanha Bay Port Manager: Mr Shadrack Tshikalange;
CHIETA, Saldanha Bay IDZ, MICT and Nemisa staff members;
Distinguished Guests and Stakeholders;
Members of the media;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good day,

It is my great pleasure to be enjoined with you today as we officially open this historic CHIETA SMART Skills Centre here in Saldanha Bay, in the Western Cape province. 

This SMART Skills Centre is a monumental step towards South Africa’s  digital skills development not only to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), but also to accelerate local innovation and enterprise capabilities, which will drive job creation and economic growth.

There is a general consensus that more and more companies are beginning to embark on what is called a “digital transformation journey”. 

It is therefore by design that CHIETA and the Freeport Saldanha Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) recognised the need to prepare our youth and small medium enterprises by developing their digital readiness through tech enabled learning programmes such as virtual and augmented reality, robotics, and the internet of things amongst others. 

To achieve this, a host environment in a form of a technology infested centre where technology, talent and creativity interface is essential. 

Such a infrastructure will responds to what we came to know as the Forth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

To analyse how we have reached the 4IR, allow me to trace back at the previous three industrial revolutions, how they changed our lives and the world when they occurred. Let us take a quick look at:

• First Industrial Revolution. It occurred at the end of the 18th century, in 1784, when steam was harnessed for mechanical production. It led to the invention of the first mechanised loom which was a watershed.
• Second Industrial Revolution. In 1870, mass production powered by electricity was first introduced. The assembly line was invented and the industrial sector speeded up exponentially.
• Third Industrial Revolution. In 1969, advances in computing led to machine programming and opened the door to progressive automation.

Around 2014, the industry experienced another “about turn” with the appearance of smart factories and online production management. This is what Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, described as “The Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

The 4IR creates a world in which virtual and physical systems of manufacturing cooperate with each other in a flexible way at the global level. 

Indeed, we are now in a revolution which is fundamentally changing the way we live, work, and relate to one another. 

In its scale, scope and complexity, the 4IR is unlike anything humankind has experienced before because of its speed, scope and unprecedented impact.

Effects and advantages of the 4IR

All revolutions have benefits and drawbacks, challenges and opportunities, uncertainties and certainties. In the case of the 4IR, the advantages are evident. They are: 

• Increased productivity;
• Efficiency and quality in processes;
• Greater safety for workers by reducing jobs in dangerous environments;
• Enhanced decision making with data-based tools;
• Improved competitiveness by developing customised products that satisfy consumers’ needs, etc.
   

As far as the drawbacks are concerned, the experts point to many: 

• The dizzying speed of change and the need to adapt;
• Burgeoning cyber risks that force us to ramp up cybersecurity;
• High dependence on technology and the so-called digital gap; and,
• Lack of qualified staff, etc. 

Regarding the latter, it is worth remembering that the deep impact of Industry 4.0 on employment is one of the biggest challenges for the 4IR. 

At the start of the (4IR) process, a McKinsey Global report confirmed that up to 800 million jobs will have disappeared by 2030 as a result of automation. 

However, this may also be an opportunity, because, as novel technologies emerge, so will new professions that will create millions of jobs in new sectors.

We therefore need to ensure that this centre help us to create these new professions and jobs that our economy, society and the labour market needs.

These new technologies includes:

• Internet of things technology which is designed to establish a connection between the physical and digital worlds.  This technology has revolutionised numerous sectors. In fact, billions of devices are already interconnected and more and more devices are becoming smart.
• Robotics and the cobots  which are designed to interact physically with humans in collaborative environments. These are very important  to industry because of their ability  to optimise production and ve employees from doing monotonous and dangerous tasks.
• Augmented reality and virtual reality which is technology that combine the real world and the digital world using computer science, enrich the visual experience of both users and consumers by generating immersive experiences.
• Big data, the full-blown 4IR will allow us to change data into information. As we all know information is power.  Big data allows massive data management and interpretation for business purposes, which is particularly relevant when devising business strategies or making decisions.
• Lastly, 3D and 4D printing. These days we have the means to develop prototypes — or products for sale — quickly, accurately and economically with 3D and 4D printing. This technology is becoming increasingly important in design, architecture, engineering, etc.
   

I recently received the Report of the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) on the implications of the 4IR to our post-school education and training system. 

The report provides insights into how the PSET policy-making mechanism can respond to the challenges posed by rapid shifts in the way we learn, live, and conduct our business.

Amongst the foremost recommendations of the report is that our PSET sector must place great emphases on developing curricula, programmes, and courses that are informed by the demands of the labour market. Being demand-led in this way requires customised initiatives that respond directly to the needs of groups of similarly focused employers and result in the employment or self-employment of the young person. 

However, the report makes a strong emphasis that ensuring the relevance of PSET programmes cannot be exclusively dictated by the demands of the labour market as it exists today that there is a need to equally ensure ongoing curriculum development that prepares students to thrive even as the needs of the labour market change and to become active agents in shaping the future of both South African society and its economy. 

To date as a government,  we have launched several initiatives aimed at capacity-building as well as research and development in 4IR and related fields. 

The National Digital and Future Skills Strategy (2020),  published on 23 September 2020, presents a vision  South Africa in which all its people are able to benefit from enhanced digital skills.

The strategy sets out many layers at which digital skills should be given attention, and many mechanisms for advancing digital skills. Most importantly, the strategy considers the need for (i) a diversity of digital skills, (ii) priority skills areas, and (iii) convergence of digital skills with subject matter knowledge. 

While priority areas for digital skills can be supported in the short term, and revised on a regular basis as the nature of skills demand and supply changes, the real strength of any national strategy lies in the diversity of skills produced, giving the country the capacity to adjust and adapt to local and global skills demand cycles. 

The emphasis is on diversity with respect to skills, with respect to the skills development programmes and associated curricula, and with respect to jobs and forms of employment. 

Background of the centre

Now coming back to the launch of our centre today, the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) and the Freeport Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) underpinned by the need to develop a pool of digital technology skills for the chemical industries. 

I am proud that two of our SETAs, the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) and the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) collaborated with the Freeport Saldanha IDZ and other partners to establish this centre. 

The Freeport Saldanha IDZ provided the premises without any costs to CHIETA and the MICT SETA provided free ICT training courses to all learners at the centre. 

CHIETA provided all the equipment’s, from the IT infrastructure to the Virtual Reality training pods, the digital boardroom for SMMEs and cooperatives. They also provided free data and access to wifi for all learners entering the centre. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) will be providing free 4IR courses. 

Importance of the Smart Skills Centre

This SMART Skills Centre is part of our bigger plan to revolutionize digital skills development in all our nine provinces and to cater for small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMME) development. 

The centre will offer various digital skills development programmes, based on technologies such as block chain, artificial intelligence, software development, data science and mobile repairs. 

CHIETA forecast that a minimum of 10 000 unemployed youth from surrounding rural communities will benefit from the centre over the next five years. 

I am happy with this focussed attention of the CHIETA, especially in digital skills, engaging young people in some form of socio-economic activities remains critical in our Agenda to fight against poverty, unemployment, and inequality. 

The COVID-19 global health pandemic has exacerbated our challenges with unemployment of youth (15-24 years old) increased from 59 % by first quarter of 2020 or pre-COVID-19 trajectory to 61% by the second quarter of 2022. Whilst for the same cohort for those not in employment, education, and training (NEET) increased from 3.5 million to 3.6 million for the same period.

Furthermore, CHIETA together with its stakeholders, will provide various online learning platforms for the unemployed youth to start up successful and scalable data-driven commercial businesses that will provide technological solutions.

Furthermore, this centre will bridge the digital skills divide between urban and rural communities by providing access to the internet and digital skills training.

The integration of rural communities in this project is very important to ensure that the bridge the social divide between urban rural communities by ensuring an equitable access to education and its outcomes for our communities regardless of where they stay. 

These centre we are launching today will significantly reduce the cost burden associated with transport and data that will be ordinarily be placed on poor communities.

The Skills Centre contribution to the Master Skills Plan

Ladies and gentlemen

I would like to remind all of you that we now have begun the process of crafting our ‘one country Master Skills Plan’. The Plan will promote a more efficient and effective mechanism for our country-wide skills planning. 

Having said that, I see this centre as part of our realisation of our Master Skills plan by revolutionising our digital skills in coding, software development and data analytics.

More exciting news about this centre is that it’s services will be offered free to all the participants, including job seekers and the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) that wish to grow their operations. 

As the great Nelson Mandela famously said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  This state-of-the-art centre is a fulfillment of what Madiba represented. 

 The centre will be an exemplar for excellence in tech education, as well as research and development. 

We all know that South Africa strives for high calibre solutions and the generation of business that will open opportunities to drive innovation to stimulate our country’s socio-economic development. 

Indeed, through this centre, the Saldanha Bay’s socioeconomic development trajectory will not be the same anymore.

Partnerships

Chairperson, our White Paper for Post School Education and Training envisages an integrated post-school system and some of our post school institutions have already begun to build strong partnerships with each other. 

As you know, we agreed that all SETAs must develop partnerships with other institutions within the post school education and training sector (PSET) such as TVET college, Community Education Colleges (CET), and the National Skills Fund. Partnership must also be developed with other government departments and their agencies. 

It is now an open secret that in the meeting I held with Board members, and CEOs of SETA I said SETAs who do not forge this partnership do not belong to our SETA system.

This is the reason that today I congratulate CHIETA for having identified the Saldanha Bay IDZ as amongst the most suited partner for the establishment of a SMART Skills Centre in the province.

The Industrial Development Zones in South Africa were developed by government with the aim to increase industrial growth in particular geographical areas. 

This is underpinned by the fact that more and more companies are beginning to embark on a digital transformation journey. 

CHIETA and the Freeport Saldanha IDZ recognised the need to develop digital readiness through tech enabled learning programmes like virtual and augmented reality, robotics, the internet of things amongst others.

To this extend, I congratulate CHIETA’s visionary leadership for conceiving the idea of such a centre and for locating it within the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone.

The centre will increase the number of sustainable businesses and available talent, ensuring that the Saldanha Bay economy grows by providing relevant, technology-driven services whilst meeting the needs of the Saldanha Bay IDZ investors, workforce, supply chain demands and industry.

Through this centre, CHIETA must now further identify and collaborate with both the TVET and CET colleges here in the Western Cape.  This will ensure that we rapidly enhance the potential of these colleges to harness open learning to increase access to the PSET learning opportunities, which are closely linked to the needs of the labour market and help to drive growth in local employment.

This principle must be integrated in the concept of these SMART centre and be applied also in the two Smart Skills Centres that we will be launching in this current financial year in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. 

Furthermore, these centres must ensure that we place our TVET graduates for in-service training, learnerships and internships as part of the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his 2022 State of the Nation Address, that government is to place 10 000 unemployed TVET graduates for in-service training, learnerships and internships. 

I want us, as well, to further collaborate with the Department of Small Business Development as the National Development Plan envisages that about 90% of new jobs created will be in the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs).

To ensure that the above approaches are not fragmented or operating in silos, these initiatives must be  developed in line with the a systemic District Development Model (DDM) in order to initiate integrated 4IR-related development at the regional level. 

Our approach must always centre on specific economic sectors, carefully chosen to develop a pivot for regional economic development. 

In all our project conceptualisation, we must always remember that integrated delivery models that work at district and regional levels and that enable PSET institutions in common localities to work with each other, with public and private enterprises, with social structures, with the communities they serve, and with local, district and provincial government will always ensure that we create an articulated, seamless, responsive education and development opportunities to the benefit of our economy

Furthermore, our centres must be linked to the National Development Plan’s (NDP’s) focus on integrated development. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, South Africa faces unprecedented challenges as it grapples with the challenges and opportunities presented by the 4IR. 

Responding to these challenges cannot be achieved through slow, incremental change. The economic headwinds we face and the relentless pace of technological change precipitated by the 4IR mean that we have to respond in kind, with purpose and speed. 

I therefore would like to thank CHIETA, MICT and the IDZ for their tireless efforts and hard work in ensuring the successful launch of this ground-breaking initiative which offers new educational opportunities and grow the pool of our youth, especially young women to further advance their digital skills and take up digital opportunities to grow our economy.

I thank you all very much.

Source: Government of South Africa