Trade Union Solidarity on Tuesday pointed out that a precondition for growth and job creation in South Africa is excellent infrastructure and appointing the people with appropriate skills, publicly launching its skills bank with which it aims to tackle the lack of skills in the public sector.  

This comes after discussions held between Solidarity and various levels of government about skills shortages in South Africa.

According to Solidarity, the goal of the project is growth and job creation, and it hopes to register tens of thousands of people on the skills bank, which will first focus on ten critical skills in the engineering and trade environments.

"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 new opportunities. The entire service will be free of charge. Our profit is the growth of the country," said Solidarity's Network Platform head Hennie Bierman.

Solidarity's own study pointed to huge skills shortages in the public sector in engineering and trades, 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," said Solidarity CEO Dr Dirk Hermann.

While the public sector might be the biggest beneficiary from the skills bank, the private sector could benefit just as much, he stated.

"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," said Hermann.

Bierman highlighted the success of Solidarity’s platform, launched in September, which sought to connect employers and employees.

More than 2 000 employers had already registered on the platform and about 5 700 jobs had been advertised so far, he noted.

"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,” he said.

He said making the right skills match was a huge variable for growth and job creation.

Solidarity's skills bank for Eskom in 2022 had proven this, Hermann said.

"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,” Hermann highlighted.