Skills Development Act

Purpose of the Skills Development Act (1998)

The stated purpose of the Skills Development Act (SDA) 1998:

(a)  to develop the skills of the South African workforce:

• to improve the quality of life of workers, their prospects of work and labour mobility
• to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers
• to promote self-employment
• to improve the delivery of social services

(b)  to increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to improve the return on that investment;

(c)  to encourage employers:

• to use the workplace as an active learning environment
• to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills
• to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience
• to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

(d)  to encourage workers to participate in learnerships and other training programmes;

(e)  to improve the employment prospects of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education;

(f)  to ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace;

(g)  to assist:

• work-seekers to find work
• retrenched workers to re-enter the labour market
• employers to find qualified employees
• to provide and regulate employment services.

Purpose of the Skills Development Act (SDA) as Amended (2008)

The SDA was amended in 2008. The introduction to the amended legislation states:

To amend the Skills Development Act, 1998, so as to define certain expressions and amend certain definitions; to extend the functions of the National Skills Authority; to change the composition of the National Skills Authority; to extend the Minister’s powers in respect of SETA’s; to provide anew for the obligations of SETA’s in respect of financial management; to require SETA’s to conclude service level agreements with the Di General; to ensure that the membership of SETA’s is representative of designated groups; to empower the Minister to make regulations regarding learnership agreements; to regulate private employment service agencies; to allow the use of money in the National Skills Fund for the administration of the Fund; to provide anew for budgeting in respect of training by national and provincial public entities; to empower the Minister to establish and promote a national standard to promote good practice in skill development; to extend the Minister’s power to make regulations; and to amend Schedule to effect consequential amendments to the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996: and to provide for matters connected therewith.

The purpose of the SDA is to be achieved through the establishment of the following institutions:

(a)  establishing an institutional and financial framework comprising:

• The National Skills Authority (NSA)
• The National Skills Fund (NSF)
• A skills development levy-financing scheme as contemplated in the Skills Development Levies Act
• Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA’s)
• Provincial offices of the Department
• Labour centres of the Department
• Accredited trade test centres
• Skills development institutes
• The Quality Council for Trades and Occupations
• A skills development forum for each province
• A national artisan moderation body
• Productivity South Africa

(b)  encouraging partnerships between the public and private sectors of the economy to provide education and training in and for the workplace;

(c)  co-operating with the South African Qualifications Authority.

In summary, the SDA as amended remained largely the same. However the following relevant changes resulted:

• To provide new and amend existing definitions
• To empower the Minister to establish and promote a national standard to promote good practice in Skills Development

Click here to view a video that explains the Skills Development Act.