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Services Seta

Services Seta battle ends with a truce

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:07

Dr Blade Nzimande

By Alan Hammond

The legal battles between the Services Seta and the Minister of Higher Education and Training have come to an end. The Seta Council has agreed to accept the administrator appointed by the Minister, and the Ministry have agreed to withdraw the two appeals lodged with the courts.

Earlier this year the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, appointed his nominee to take over the position of Serivces Seta chairman under a new constitution for the education and training authority.

At one point the CEO of the Seta, Dr Ivor Blumenthal, was removed from his office by armed police on the instructions of Dr Moon. Although reinstated by the courts, Blumenthal later resigned saying that this position was untenable.

After a meeting held between the Minister and the Council of the Seta a truce was agreed.

The new head of the Seta, Dr Sihle Moon, said that the repositioning of Seta governance was to improve service delivery.

‘Such repositioning have seen several interventions by the ministry to realign governance through amongst others the introduction of the standard constitution for all Setas as well as the call for the realignment of the resources to better respond to the socioeconomic challenges facing especially the youth of our country,’ Said Dr Sihle Moon the administrator of the Services Seta.

In a statement the Services Seta announced a number of points of agreement in the way forward.

· The interim council will be dissolved and all court proceedings will be withdrawn.

· A process will be put in place normalise the governance of the Services Seta.

· An administrator will be put in place in the intervening period, to facilitate normalisation.

The former acting CEO of the Seta, Beverley Jack told Business Day she was, "very glad resolution has been found. The arguments and disagreements were not getting us anywhere". Dr Nzimande’s changes to the Skills Development Act, including the 'model' constitution he wanted the Services Seta to sign would be discussed at Nedlac, she told the newspaper.

The administrator said he would actively involve the stakeholders in the process of re-establishing chamber boards and ultimately the accounting authority for the Services Seta

"Through a stakeholder engagement process and an AGM, the constitutional impasse will be attended to and resolved in the interest of the stakeholders, the economy and the skills challenge in our country," the statement added.

“These decisions herald a new chapter in the history of the Services Seta. Over the last few weeks the Services Seta and its staff and stakeholders had to go through a period of uncertainty following the numerous court cases and appeals by the state," said Dr Moon.

Minister Nzimande welcomed the initiative from the stakeholders and on his part promised that there shall be no vindictiveness in taking the Services Seta forward. Addressing the stakeholders after their meeting, he stated that his only interest is to see through the skills revolution in the country.

Dr Moon acknowledged the role of the facilitator of the stakeholder Tirhani Mabunda as well as all the stakeholders for having brought these matters to a resolution. ‘Let me thank the staff of the Service Seta who have gone through a turbulent period over the last few weeks but remain loyal to the organization’.