Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has called on the private sector, labour organisations and civil society to work with government to transform South Africa’s skills system and tackle unemployment.
Speaking at the 5th Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) Summit in Johannesburg, the Minister emphasised that building skills is central to economic growth and job creation.
He referenced the President's State of the Nation Address, highlighting the importance of human capital development.
“Not because it sits well in a policy document, but because South Africa cannot grow, cannot create jobs, cannot transform its economy, and cannot build a capable state without the skills to do all of these things,” the Minister said.
Skills Revolution Requires National Collaboration
Manamela stressed that the country’s skills development efforts must go beyond government-led initiatives and become a shared national responsibility.
“If it is a government project, it will achieve what government projects typically achieve. Some of it. Unevenly. Not fast enough. If it is a national compact, if every constituency in this room owns a defined part of the solution and is held publicly accountable for delivering it, then something different becomes possible,” Manamela said.
He noted that rapid technological change, including the rise of artificial intelligence, is transforming the labour market and creating new demands for skills.
“Our speakers today will bring evidence from the World Economic Forum and from leading institutions about the scale and pace of this disruption, greater than most skills systems in the world are currently prepared for.
“The Just Energy Transition is creating new demand for artisans, technicians, and engineers in sectors that did not exist in their current form five years ago. The green economy is growing. The digital economy is growing. The platform economy is growing and bringing with it a form of work that does not look like a job in the traditional sense, but is work nonetheless, performed by millions of South Africans who deserve qualifications, protections, and skills pathways,” the Minister said.
New National Skills Strategy Launched
The summit, held under the theme “Living and Working in a Changing World”, also saw the launch of the Reconceptualised Human Resource Development Strategy (2025–2035) and the Master Skills Plan (2025–2030).
These strategies aim to reform South Africa’s skills development system, improve employability and better align education with the needs of the economy.
The framework focuses on four key priorities:
- Strengthening early learning and schooling outcomes
- Improving employability for youth not in education, employment or training (NEET)
- Aligning post-school education with green, digital and care economy skills
- Building a capable, ethical and developmental state
“This is the most comprehensive and forward-looking national skills framework that South Africa has produced,” the Minister said.
Implementation Challenges Remain
Despite the strong policy framework, Manamela acknowledged that implementation remains a major challenge.
“The institutions we have built to implement this strategy are not yet operating at the level that the task requires.
“Our Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) system holds billions of rands in levy funds and has the potential to transform skills delivery at the sector level. In some sectors, it is doing exactly that. In others, the funds are not reaching learners in ways that change outcomes,” Manamela said.
He also raised concerns about the effectiveness of the HRDC, suggesting that stronger accountability mechanisms are needed.
“The HRDC has all the right architecture. But a body that meets periodically, produces communiqués, and waits three years for the next Summit to check whether anything happened is not an accountability body. It is a consultation forum,” the Minister said.
Call To Action For Business And Labour
The Minister urged businesses and labour organisations to play an active role in addressing South Africa’s unemployment crisis.
“South Africa's youth unemployment crisis is not a social problem that business can observe from a distance. It is a structural feature of an economy that is not absorbing the people it educates.
“To organised labour: the Skills Revolution is not a threat to workers. It is the protection that retraining, upskilling, and new qualification pathways provide in the face of disruption that is coming, whether we act or not,” the Minister said.
He concluded by highlighting the opportunity for meaningful change, while stressing the importance of accountability in delivering results.
“What remains to be built is the accountability architecture that makes all of this mean something beyond this room,” the Minister said.
