24/06/2024
Empowering young people with skills and knowledge is an essential activity in building and maintaining the economy of any society.
The spotlight is increasingly falling on vocational skills and the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI), the leading voice in the automotive aftermarket, says that during Youth Month there is no better time to applaud Government’s efforts to tackle youth unemployment in the long term by prioritising education and the skills deficit that exists.
Ipeleng Mabusela, RMI CEO: Strategy and Corporate support says if the country wants to address the current skills crisis we need to strengthen and build more TVET Colleges and shift focus towards more vocational and technical education. “Vocational skills form the backbone of any economy and can be a valuable stepping stone to advanced careers in the future,” he says.
In the automotive aftermarket sector specifically, growth is definitely predicted from the small to medium businesses that are going to drive the economy. “It is here that we are sitting with a skills crisis of technicians across the automotive sector. As an industry we have to address the automotive skills shortages, reduce unemployment and be part of real transformation. The reality is that there has been no real skills development and/or under-investment in human capital for many years in our country. Skills have been outpaced by technology and there has been a loss of businesses and profits. Improved skills will result in increased productivity. It is all about professional standards and changing of perceptions and encouraging business owners to draw in new entrants into the sector,” says Mabusela.
Mabusela believes if we can drive the inclusion of more apprentices and start migrating the informal business into the formal sector, we will have a far stronger sector. “Significantly for every small and informal business or every apprentice successfully converted and absorbed into the formal sector, 5 jobs are likely to be created. Each of these newly employed people in turn, financially support another 20 people on average in the process,” he says.
And this commitment is not filled with empty promises. Since 2017 RMI has been integrally involved with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to assume the role of Occupational Team Convener (OTC) for the Diesel and Automotive Motor mechanic trades using the occupational qualification delivery method at Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa.
They have also partnered with the German Chamber of Crafts Erfurt, more popularly known as Handwerkskammer Erfurt (HWK Erfurt), to upskill lecturers drive vocational training in the automotive aftermarket.
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Empowering young people with skills and knowledge is an essential activity in building and maintaining the economy of any society. The spotlight is increasingly
