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By Thapelo Molefe
The Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) has concluded its inuagrural Forwarding and Clearing Skills Summit with a strong call for the transport and logistics industry to take the lead in identifying and driving the skills it needs.
The two-day summit held in Kempton Park in Ekurhuleni brought together hundreds of participants from across the sector to discuss transformation, inclusivity and modern skills development.
TETA company secretary Ishmael Malale said the summit was part of a wider effort by the Seta to ensure that the transport industry took full ownership of the country’s transport skills strategy.
“Our responsibility as a Seta is to galvanise all industry players to come forward and say these are our needs in relation to enhancing business, reducing costs and creating employment,” Malale said in an interview with Inside Education.
He explained that this summit, along with previous ones such as the Ocean Economy Summit, was part of a long-term engagement process aimed at placing industry at the centre of the skills planning process.
“This exercise is to ensure that the industry takes charge of determining its needs,” Malale said. “They should be the ones that drive the kinds of training programmes that must be funded by the Transport Education and Training Authority.”
Malale said the overwhelming response to the event was a clear sign that the sector was eager to engage.
Reflecting on the outcomes of the summit, Malale said the next step would be to consolidate input from stakeholders and work closely with industry associations.
“The sector actually says that we should allow them to take the centre stage for skills development,” he said.
“We believe that after this, we should be able to come together with the associations and develop a minimum programme to say these are the skills we need and these are the qualifications we must develop.”
TETA has committed to providing the funding and institutional support needed to carry out the skills plans that emerge from the summit.
Malale said the authority’s role was not to dictate what training should happen, but to enable what the industry demanded.
“Our responsibility is to avail the necessary resources to achieve the goals set by the forwarding and clearing community,” he said.
With the summit now concluded, the transport sector is expected to begin the next phase of turning dialogue into action and building a future-focused, inclusive and competitive workforce.
INSIDE EDUCATION