DATE: 14 May 2010

TO: All Wholesale and Retail Sector Stakeholders

FROM: Wholesale and Retail SETA (W&RSETA)

Dear Stakeholder

RE: INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FINALIZATION OF THE NEW SETA LANDSCAPE AND NSDS III

In his media statement of 28 April 2010, the Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr. Blade Nzimande announced that he would release the proposed new SETA landscape and the NSDS III Framework for public comment. The documents can be downloaded from the SETA web site on our homepage.

SETAs have been invited to participate in the process of finalizing the proposed new landscape and NSDS III. To this end, the W&RSETA invites all stakeholders to participate in the forthcoming engagement sessions and for those that cannot attend, to submit their representations on the proposed new landscape and NSDS III.

In terms of the proposed landscape, the mandate of the W&RSETA will be extended to incorporate the Motor Retail and Petrol Sales sub sectors. Secondly, the W&RSETA’s mandate will be aligned to government priorities of the Department of Trade and Industry.

The National Skills Authority will be holding public hearings from the 14th to the 18th of June 2010 to enable those affected by these changes to make representations on the proposed landscape and NSDS III. It is in the interest of all concerned in the Wholesale and Retail sector to attend the engagement sessions and submit their representations before the actual hearings commence in order to have a singular and a well canvassed proposition that is representative of the sector.

The road shows will be conducted to allow for clarifications and stakeholders understanding of the proposed NEW landscape and NSDS III and will take place on the following dates:

  • Gauteng (Johannesburg)31 May 2010
  • Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban)01 June 2010
  • Eastern Cape (East London)01 June 2010
  • Northern Cape (Kimberley)01 June 2010
  • North West (Rustenburg)02 June 2010
  • Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth) 02 June 2010
  • Free State (Bloemfontein)02 June 2010
  • Western Cape (Cape Town)04 June 2010
  • Limpopo (Polokwane) 04 June 2010
  • Mpumalanga (Nelspruit)04 June 2010

Kindly contact your Regional Office to confirm the venue.

In terms of Section 9 of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No. 97 of 1998), the following criteria have been applied to arrive at the proposed new landscape:

  • Fit for purpose (the objective of establishing SETAs is to fulfil functions as per the Act)
  • Coverage of all economic sectors
  • Alignment with national government departments
  • Coverage of all employers in that economic sector including
  • public and private;
  • large, medium, small & micro sized employers;
  • employers with similar occupational profiles;
  • employers delivering similar products or services
  • Financial sustainability
  • Operational viability.

According to the proposed landscape, the W&RSETA’s mandate will be aligned to government priorities of the Department of Trade and Industry. Stakeholders need to have the following considerations when comments on the said landscape are made:

  • The extension of the W&RSETA mandate to also include Motor Retail and Petrol Sales sub sectors;
  • Alignment to government priorities of the Department of Trade and Industry
  • Improve Board & Governance of SETAs:
  • Accountability, size, structure, focus,
  • Strengthen line departments involvement in SETA Boards
  • Proposal: ‘independent’ Chair
  • Improve funding model and financial transfers
  • Improve financial management
  • Focus objectives and functions of SETAs to be more manageable and responsive to particular labour market segments
  • Improve coherence and alignment with government priorities
  • Strengthen government clusters involvement in NSDS objective setting
  • Improve Quality learning outcomes:
  • Align all learning programmes to the QCTO requirements/framework
  • Build better alignment between the occupational, vocational & Higher Education learning systems
  • Improve quality of sector skills development planning
  • Improve co-ordination between and across SETAs to support economic and industrial sector strategies
  • Strengthen support and coordination services to SETAs
  • Considerable work required to make efficiencies happen in a logical, planned way to achieve minimal disruption and maximize improvements.

Submissions by stakeholders must be clearly marked NEW SETA LANDSCAPE AND NSDS IIIand must be sent to by no later than 26 May 2010so that it can be taken into consideration for the SETA’s presentation due at the NSA by 31May 2010.

Written submissions and comments from stakeholders directly to the NSA must be within 60 days after the publication of Gazette Notice 362 of 2010 dated 30 April 2010.

To get more information about the new proposed SETA landscape, NSDS III framework and the Minister’s media statement, visit and click on Latest News or contact our call centre on 0860270027.

I apologise for such a short notice and little time given to you to give your input. I however urge you to participate in this public process to ensure that the needs of our sector are heard and catered for as the changes are going to have a direct bearing on how the sector is going to be shaped.

Yours faithfully

Joel Dikgole

Chief Executive Officer

Contacts Details: Gauteng North: 012430 4930 Gauteng South: 012676 9000 KwaZulu-Natal: 031277-0500 Western Cape 021442 6700 Eastern Cape: 043722 3010 Limpopo/Mpumalanga: 013690 1214 Free State/Northern Cape/North West: 051447 8443

P.O. Box 9809, Centurion, 0046 South Africa, W&RSETA House, 224 Witch-Hazel Avenue, Highveld Techno Park, Centurion Pretoria; Tel: (012) 676-9000, Fax: (012) 665-2559, , E-mail: , Website: