The British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made a speech to the Parliament of South Africa on 3 February 1960 in Cape Town, in which he remarked that “The winds of change are blowing in Africa”.

We are at such a point again in the world of Skills Development in South Africa. There is a huge change taking place with regard to the role of governing training and education. Until now, the SETA’s fulfilled the role of amongst other activities, registering and managing qualifications. This role is now moving over to the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO).

What we can say for certain at this stage, is what has been published by the QCTO, depicted graphically below in Fig 1:

Unfortunately things are not as clear-cut as this, as there are uncertainties about the functionality of the SETA systems (they are basically all non-responsive currently) and even SETA telephone exchanges or support. This move is fraught with uncertainty, causing uncertainty and confusion amongst clients, Skills Development Providers (SDPs) as well as the learners. The following is a quote from the industry that summarises the status quo:

“Unfortunately – we were all waiting for a circular or communique to be published, but nothing happened. The 30th of June has come and gone – and many providers (thousands of providers) are sitting with the same concern. The answer is: follow the SAQA registration end date, then comply with the last date of enrolment (this means that if you are still accredited, you may still enrol learners up to the 30th of June 2024), which means that you may not enrol learners from the 1st of July 2024. For those learners that have enrolled up to the 30th of June 2024, they have enough time to complete their legacy qualification – the last date of achievement is set: by the 30th of June 2027. Should the provider not be accredited, and was not re-accredited for this period, they will not be able to enrol any learners – sad but true”

With regard to the way forward, there seems to be two parallel journeys that we can start going on:

1. Continue with SETA historical legacy qualifications, given the view expressed in figure 1.
2. Proceed with QCTO qualifications, as depicted in figure 2

We look forward to our next interaction during which we can explore the best way forward for you, based on your particular environment and needs!

Then we can harness the winds of change for your benefit!