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Solidarity has established a major skills bank with a view to facing the skills crisis in particularly the public sector in South Africa.

This follows discussions that Solidarity had at various levels of government about skills shortages in South Africa. According to Solidarity, the ultimate goal of this project is growth and job creation.

Solidarity says the precondition for growth and job creation in South Africa is good infrastructure, and the precondition for that is appointing people with appropriate skills. Solidarity now plans to register tens of thousands of people on the skills bank. Although the public sector may be the biggest beneficiary, the private sector can benefit just as much.

According to Dr Dirk Hermann, CEO of Solidarity, this will be the largest skills market in the country, aimed at alleviating shortages in terms of skills, mainly in the public sector but also in the private sector. He believes it will be a growth variable in the country.

"We are experiencing a new spirit of cooperation. Following the formation of the government of national unity, there is now an essential next phase that must follow, namely cooperation between government levels and civil society. The skills bank has been established in this spirit," says Hermann.

According to Solidarity, there are thousands of South Africans both in the country and abroad who are willing to help. Solidarity's skills bank for Eskom in 2022 has proven this. "We submitted a list of 300 experts to Eskom, which was a precise answer to the critical shortages in Eskom. This list represents a total of 5 500 years of experience and 400 accredited qualifications, including 14 doctorates.

"We were amazed at people's willingness to help. Unfortunately, the political will was lacking. However, we are now getting a different feeling. We have had many conversations lately. These varied from public enterprises to national, provincial and local governments. The more positive climate must be tested in practice. The reality of a crisis sometimes has surprising consequences. Even large companies have contacted us lately for people with specific skills," says Herman.

According to Hermann, Solidarity's database will be a merit bank. There are excellent black, white, brown and Indian skills in the country. Everyone belongs there. There should be no racial barriers if we are looking for answers that will benefit the country.

Solidarity's own study points to huge skills shortages in the public sector. This includes engineering and trades professions, but also shortages of medical practitioners, project managers, teachers, various IT positions, quantity surveyors and architects. "For many of these shortages, there are South Africans with these skills available. There must be the political will to appoint them, then they must be sought and a platform must be created to bring them and the positions together," says Hermann.

In September 2023, Solidarity launched a platform which, among other things, brings together employers and employees. According to Hennie Bierman, head of Solidarity's Network Platform, it has been a huge success. More than 2 000 employers have already registered on this platform and around 5 700 jobs have been advertised so far.

"We realised we could use the same technology to make an enormous difference in the skills crisis in South Africa. In this way we can also make an enormous difference in the lives of millions of South Africans. Making the right skills matches is a huge variable for growth and job creation. Solidarity is in the ideal position to do this," says Bierman.

According to Bierman, the skills bank will kick off with ten critical skills in the engineering and trades environment.

"From our discussions with role players, this has been indicated as an important starting point. After that, we are going to expand it, and the opportunities are almost limitless. New technology opens up new opportunities. The entire service will be free of charge. Our profit is the growth of the country," says Bierman.

Issued by Solidarity