“The only way out of the cycle of unemployment, poverty and inequality which
is undermining South Africa’s future is to achieve higher and more labour intensive
levels of economic growth. Among other things, this requires dramatically expanding the pool of skills available to the South African economy. There are two main ways of achieving this. The first, and most important, is to equip South Africans with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills, and the ability to use them productively. This will enable them to reach their full human potential, and contribute to national development. The second is to compensate for South Africa’s existing skills shortage by recruiting skilled people from abroad.However, this report focuses on two aspects of skills development other than
basic education: technical and vocational education and training (TVET); and
the role of immigration in augmenting the South African skills pool. We have
chosen vocational education because South Africa has both a chronic shortage
of mid-level technical skills and a crisis of youth unemployment. In order to
address these growth constraints, the country needs a viable educational route accessible enough and of high enough quality to be an attractive alternative
to degree or diploma studies.”
