14 March 2013
On behalf of the Central Committee and the now 170 000 members of the SACP, let me greet this important gathering of our ally, COSATU - meeting as the Collective Bargaining, Organising and Campaigns Conference. Let me also express my appreciation on the fact that you have decided to use part of this conference to focus on the very important theme of human resources and skills development, and a subject you have requested me to talk about.
However it is important that I contextualize and properly locate - politically - the topic I have been asked to talk about, and approach it from a working class and socialist perspective. The SACP emerged out of its 13th Congress at Ngoye having refined adopted its `South African Road to Socialism`. This programme re-affirmed the SACP`s medium term vision, that of seeking to build working class power and hegemony in all key sites of power - in the economy, in the community, in the workplace, in the state, ideologically, in the international sphere; and, importantly, in protecting the environment for future generations.
In order to achieve this, the SACP and indeed the working class as whole, must take responsibility for the national democratic revolution in all its dimensions. In other words, all of our alliance components must take responsibility for the totality of our revolution, and not pick and choose when to take responsibility; and also not to act opportunistically as part of the alliance when it suits us, and when the going gets tough seek to act as if we were outside this revolutionary alliance.
This collective bargaining conference is taking place at a time when there is a huge and intensified offensive against the progressive trade union movement in our country, with a particular target being COSATU. A huge class offensive against the progressive labour movement, which has been evolving for quite some time, but has now reached a point where sections of capital now think it is strong enough to strike some fatal blows against the labour movement. It is no accident that the first huge strike is against the NUM - the largest COSATU affiliate, thus striking at the heart of the federation.
The offensive against the NUM is not unrelated to the bogus call for the `nationalisation of mines` made some few years ago, which as the SACP we had correctly characterised as not being a genuine call, but a call to rescue a section of indebted BEE capital backed by a component of a white section of capital which was also overly exposed because of its sponsorship of this black fraction of capital. Failure to win the so-called `nationalisation` moment translated into an intensified offensive against the NUM in particular. It is also no accident that elements within the ranks of our movement who were supporting this bogus call on nationalization are the ones who are in the forefront of trying to destroy, if not out-organise, the NUM. There is no accident here, but a common class agenda, even if sections of this agenda pose as the left!
Who is really behind this class offensive against COSATU in general, and the NUM in particular? Our last SACP Central Committee discussed this matter at length, and therefore it is proper that we share these views with this bargaining and campaigns conference. The CC held an extensive discussion on the challenges confronting the labour movement, and particularly our key ally, COSATU, in the current conjuncture.
World-wide the ongoing capitalist economic crisis is leading to an intensified assault on the working class. As always transnational monopoly capital seeks to transfer its own crisis onto workers and popular strata, with retrenchments and punishing budget cuts while seeking bale-outs at public expense for themselves. That bogus call for nationalization in our country was nothing but an attempt at baling out a section of indebted mining capital. A particular target world-wide in this reactionary counter-offensive is to roll back the organized sections of the working class, and to under-cut hard worn collective bargaining rights.
In South Africa the strength and central role of the labour movement in the struggle to consolidate a more radical second phase in the national democratic transition, COSATU and its affiliates have become a major target for this reactionary counter-offensive. The Marikana tragedy of last year had its origins in a strategy by the mining multi-nationals to undercut the organizational and bargaining strength of the NUM by funding right-wing factional breakaways, by undermining collective bargaining agreements, by refusing (in the Platinum sector) to enter into centralized sectoral negotiations, and by continuing to rely excessively on contracted labour brokered workers. The seemingly left fractions are also part of this agenda to destroy the NUM. The anarchy that now prevails in much of the platinum sector, and the resulting profit losses is a whirl-wind of the mine bosses` own making. While this might have led to their possible sobering up, the tragedy is that many workers` lives have been lost.
The same short-sighted, obdurate anti-worker, union bashing instincts of the capitalist class have been in evidence in the case of farm worker and farm community strikes, struggles and protests in the Boland. The response of farm-owners to government`s recent minimum wage declaration has been to threaten some 4000 or more retrenchments - and yet, at the same time, they have lodged some 3000 new permit applications to employ non-South African, labour brokered workers. We salute the class solidarity across racial and national lines in the Boland, which has been achieved in the face of constant attempts to divide and rule led by the DA-led administration.
In discussing the onslaught against the labour movement, and specifically against COSATU and its affiliates, the SACP is of the view that organizational weaknesses and factionalism within our formations plays into the hands of our class opponents, and encourages all manner of populist demagogues and workerists to exploit the situation. A principled and radical programmatic unity of COSATU and its affiliates and between COSATU and its Alliance partners is absolutely imperative. Weaknesses and challenges within COSATU and its affiliates have multiple causes. The onslaught from outside must never be forgotten, there are also internal challenges. As COSATU itself has highlighted on many occasions, this includes cases of organizational complacency and tendencies towards neglecting the hard slog of daily servicing members on the shop-floor, especially to transform and reverse the neo-liberalisation of the workplace which has led to fragmentation of the workers in South Africa`s workplaces. We respect and salute the independence of the Federation, and strongly affirm the necessity of a militant trade union movement that refuses to become a simple transmission belt for government, or for any political party, including the SACP! However the SACP has raised with COSATU our concern that a rejectionist stance against some of government`s policies or an exaggerated focus on secondary challenges has weakened, rather than strengthened, COSATU`s ability to impact upon defining and driving a second, more radical phase, of our national democratic revolution.
The SACP is strongly of the view that perhaps one of the greatest dangers to COSATU`s unity and militancy lies in the considerable loss of democratic worker control over the billions of rands of funds of COSATU and its affiliates, as well as the threat of business unionism; that is, the dangers of co-option of the trade union leadership through business interests. As part of the SACP financial sector campaign, the party will be engaging COSATU and its affiliates around an alternative strategic perspective on worker funds. Currently these funds are outsourced to fund managers, who are often paid excessive salaries and bonuses, and who make investment decisions based on pure profit-maximisation, capitalist principles. There are also allegations of problematic relations between these fund managers and elected union leadership. There is little alignment in union investments with our New Growth Path and industrial policy programmes. Yet there are many inspiring examples of the way in which union funds can be used to support an alternative social economy and progressive growth path. It is of no use to complain about aspects of our economic growth path, when we as a federation are not using the resources in our hands to support a progressive growth path!
For the working class to take responsibility for the national democratic revolution, by also ensuring ushering its more radical phase, means that we have to address all the above issues. It also means this conference must come up with a concrete strategy of building working class power in the workplace as a pre-condition for building working class hegemony in society. Unless COSATU pays attention to its organizational strength in the work place, its broader social, economic and political influence will remain a pipe-dream!
Skilling the working class to increase its bargaining power and to transform our economy
It is against the backdrop of what I have said above that we should also be approaching the issue of skills development. A skilled working class is not only indispensable for our economic growth and development, but it is a critical component of building working class power on the shop-floor and the bargaining strength of the trade union movement. Whilst organized workers` numbers are important for purposes of collective bargaining, a skilled working class is even more crucial.
It is for this reason that I desperately need working class power and influence in the portfolio that I am deployed in government. But this is not for purposes of support but for the purposes of driving skills development for the sake of the working class and its children.
It is slightly more than 3 years since the President announced the National Macro Organization of the State (NMOS) in November 2009, a process that amongst other things led to the birth of the Department of Higher Education and Training. Since the start of this period in 2009, we have pursued one goal and one goal only, to create an integrated but differentiated post school education and training system for the country. Three years is a very short period of time to begin to blow any trumpets over having achieved our goal. We take cognizance that the different elements of the system, primarily the institutions, have a history and experience that spans decades.
Comrade Chair, allow me to share with you some analysis of the current post school system and some progress on key interventions. The post school system like any other system is comprised of structures/institutions and its people, a set of rules/policies, norms and standards. A vertical analysis shows we have 23 Universities, 50 FET colleges, 21 SETAs and institutions, i.e. QCTO, NSF, NSA etc. All of these structures are governed by different pieces of legislation, policies norms and standards. This has often created artificial boundaries that inhibit collaboration among them.
We have thus spent the last 3 years of the Department`s existence seeking to transform the post school system towards integration whilst at the same time acknowledging the differentiated status of each of the components of the system. Put simply, we sought to transform our human resources and skills development through the following measures and important achievements:
1. Restructuring the SETA landscape and introducing a few policy measures to get the system to work more efficiently and in harmony with the other systems. Between the year 2000 and 2011, R57bn has gone through the hands of the SETAs, but with very little to show. It is also for this reason, amongst other, that I have sought to restructure the SETA Grant Regulations so that the spending of levy resources are directed towards addressing the crisis of unemployed youth and its training needs, rather than being fleeced by service providers and SETApreneurs. I have sought to reduce the mandatory grant to employers and increase the discretionary grants so that we can direct these SETA funds to our broader priorities. I am aware that there are still sections of our social partners that disagree with us on this matter. It has often been the case that this mandatory grant has been claimed without any training whatsoever. In fact the workplace skills plans have been adopted without the participation of the trade unions in each workplace.
2. Decisively dealing with wastage/hemorrhaging of resources through maladministration and other corrupt practices in the FET college system. Measures include placing some FET colleges under administration as well as seconding qualified Chartered Accountants to build capacity for financial management and reporting.
3. In 2009 we had set aside R310 million for bursaries for poor students in FET Colleges, and this has been increased to R1,7bn in 2012 and is likely to reach R2bn in 2013. This has been the single biggest increase in FET college bursaries in the history of country. We have essentially introduced free education for the poor in FET Colleges.
4. In 2010 we signed the national skills accord at NEDLAC to provide for placement of both FET and university of technology students in workplaces, as well as FET College lecturers so that they know the latest technology
5. We are working with some universities to develop a dedicated FET college lecturer training programmes
6. We are also working towards articulation between FET college offerings and universities, including the mainstreaming of recognition of prior learning into our system (RPL)
7. As part of beginning to introduce fee-free education for universities, as from 2010 we have introduced a full loan for poor students who are doing their final year studies, and if they pass this loan gets converted to a bursary.
8. In order to facilitate learnerships and internships for FET college students, we have started opening SETA offices in our FET colleges so that these facilitate the work placement of our student from FET colleges for a minimum of 12 months (with 18 months for those requiring artisan apprenticeships), thus improving their workplace experience and employability.
All the above is part of responding to, amongst other things, the call by COSATU "for the struggle for free education, extending to the first degree, which needs to be escalated to ensure that South Africa produces the required numbers of skilled workers to sustain economic development". In fact this is one of the resolutions that also emanated from Polokwane and the Mangaung conferences.
On the lack of high student uptake of FET Artisan related and mid-level skills courses in comparison to the University bias, and the role of skills development and its contribution to the fight against the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality, you will note that over the 2011/12 MTEF period, R14.29 billion has been allocated as subsidies to the FET Colleges. Of this, R1.42 billion has been earmarked to expand FET college student enrolment, especially to increase artisans. Particular attention has been given to expand access to students in rural areas. The increased funding will enable us to gradually expand the college system to take in more students in a bid to achieve our goal of enrolling one million students in FET institutions by 2014. These allocations will also enable the Department to increase access to the critical areas for further study within the fields of Engineering Sciences, Animal and Human Health Sciences, Natural and Physical Sciences and Teacher Education.
The role of COSATU in skills development
Whatever advances we have made to drive skills development on the government side will not be sustainable unless the progressive labour movement plays its part. And this is what I would like to devote the rest of my address to.
If there is one critical area where COSATU in particular and the trade union movement in general needs to play a leading role - taking responsibility for the national democratic revolution - it is in the area of skills development.
COSATU needs to ensure that workplace skills plans to train workers are negotiated and approved together with the trade union movement. The practice so far is that these have been the sole responsibility of employers without active participation of the trade union movement. As a result some of the SETA funds are claimed under these arrangements when actually there has been no training that has taken place.
Another critical area is that of opening up workplaces for placement of especially FET and university of technology students and graduates so that they can either get workplace experience or be able to finish their modules and studies or both.
It is also important for COSATU to ensure that the National Skills Accord is implemented. Without your active supervision this may just remain a paper accord, despite its potential to drive skills development in the workplace.
As I shared in my previous engagement with the leadership of the labour movement, I do not think that we can say that the worker representatives have always been effective. Some unions have often sent relatively junior or inexperienced representatives to the SETA boards and they have not given them clear mandates or held them accountable for their performance. One doubts even if there have been regular report backs to the union leadership or membership. SETA boards as a whole have not been successful at preventing the kind of misuse of funds which has been so widespread and still persisting. In some cases the boards or individual board members have themselves been involved in corrupt activities in certain SETAs.
We must admit that the government has been responsible for some major misjudgements, poorly designed polices and poor implementation strategies with regard to the SETAs. But at the same time we must recognise that the trade union movement has neglected its responsibilities with regard to the SETAs, thus making it also complicit in over a decade of squandering of public money. It is now time to tackle the weaknesses and overcome the challenges we face.
As I alluded to earlier, my Department has made significant strides in refocusing the SETA system, including aligning it to other sub-systems of the post-school education and training.
Jointly with COSATU, as a significant social player in NEDLAC, my Department has managed to introduce a new governance regime aimed at making the system more efficient, effective and responsive to skills needs of the respective sectors.
With the defeat delivered on the institutionalized form of the apartheid system, remnants of the system still continue to date to retard the revolutionary agenda of the democratic forces, hence we commit, time and again, to consolidate and defend the democratic gains registered thus far.
Another critical area has seen a lukewarm acceptance of the latest version of SETA Grant Regulations, which I gazetted in December last year. You may be aware that BUSA was intending to launch a legal challenge against the implementation of these regulations, a move which I suspect is partly inspired by internal resistance among some of the SETAs. We are engaging them in discussion that seeks to ensure that they deal with pertinent challenges and clarify their role together with labour in transforming the SETA system.
In its various policy pronouncements, COSATU has identified the need to increase the pace in relation to skills development in the country, in order to deal with the stubborn structural deficiencies of the South African economy. By the same token, various COSATU affiliates have played a pivotal role in the NSA and NEDLAC consultation processes, which eventually directed the position that is reflected in the gazette on Grant regulations. It is incumbent upon all of us to safeguard the distance we have traversed against those who can only see a threat to their profits when the democratic government puts in place agreed processes to deal with identified challenges.
The COSATU strategy paper presented at the Education and Skills Conference in July 2012 clearly sums up the unfortunate realities we have to deal with as we advance the cause for greater access to skills development:
"Most companies, if not all, see the skills levy as a tax. In their plans they go all out to recoup the percentage back to their coffers. There appears to be very little attempt to ensure that grants are re-invested back into training, but only a continued repletion of the levy payment referenced against the grant payouts. The key concern of the bosses in skills development is therefore often motivated by recouping of the levy and not on the quality or appropriate (skills) provision. In line with a capitalist notion that the longer-term social aspect is forgotten in the business of short-term gains"
Once more Comrades, Forward to the skills revolution! AMANDLA!