The first panel of News24’s On the Record summit has yielded a raft of proposals to jump-start job creation in South Africa, including reviving technical colleges and making all bank payments free. The two-day summit in Cape Town will feature international and local experts on how to solve SA’s unemployment crisis. President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the event later on Thursday.
Bidvest Group CEO Mpumi Madisa proposed bringing back the former technical colleges, most of which were closed over the past 25 years. They were consolidated into more centralised technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, which critics believe have been underfunded and poorly managed, while not producing the same practical skills as their predecessors. According to the South African Government, skills development is crucial for economic growth.
Free Technical Colleges
Madisa said the colleges need to be free and should equip students with skills that will allow them to start a business or enter a corporate workspace. She added that businesses must set targets for creating entry-level jobs for workers below the age of 35. As the second-largest private-sector employer in South Africa, Bidvest has 135 000 workers across 250 businesses in various sectors.
Proper Onboarding
Importantly, companies must have proper onboarding in place to teach them skills, including the importance of time management, discipline, how their performance will be assessed and how to report back, Madisa added. Instead of throwing new recruits into the deep end, this will “create people for the future, regardless of the skill that you’re going to give them; you’re teaching them discipline”.
GoTyme Bank CEO Cheslyn Jacobs said he would immediately make all payments instant and free, which would “remove absolutely any barrier to anybody in the country”. Jacobs said this would enable township businesses to accept bank card and digital payments that would build up transaction records, eventually allowing them to access credit to buy wealth-generating assets. Financial inclusion is essential for economic growth.
- Revive technical colleges
- Make all bank payments free
- Proper onboarding for new recruits
Adrian Saville, professor of economics, finance, and strategy at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), said the solution to creating more jobs in South Africa doesn’t sit in the obvious place: growing the economy. He pointed out that SA’s employment elasticity – which measures how much employment changes when the economy grows – is zero.
