By Levy Masiteng
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education has urged Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to strengthen partnerships with industry and align their curricula with labour market demands to ensure graduates leave with skills that meet employers’ needs.
The call was made on Monday during the committee’s oversight visit to Gert Sibande TVET College in Standerton, Mpumalanga, where Members of Parliament assessed the institution’s governance, leadership and operational challenges.
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The committee said TVET colleges across the country should work more closely with industry to ensure training remains relevant and avoids producing graduates with outdated skills that reduce their employment prospects.
“The committee recommended that TVET colleges in the various locations across the country should partner with industries, ensure that the curriculum was aligned with industry needs and avoid producing outdated skills that might not be needed and could negatively affect students when looking for work,” the committee said.
Portfolio Committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie said well-managed TVET colleges could play a key role in addressing South Africa’s skills shortage while expanding access to post-school education.
“If they do what they are supposed to be doing, these institutions can be the country’s response to access to higher learning. Our universities do not have enough spaces to accommodate the thousands of young people who pass matric every year. We need to move to occupational studies as a response to country and industry needs for skills,” Letsie said.
The committee said stronger alignment between training programmes and industry requirements would improve graduates’ employability while helping to address critical skills shortages in key sectors of the economy.
The oversight visit also highlighted several governance concerns at the college.
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Committee members questioned why several senior management positions remained filled in an acting capacity, warning that prolonged acting appointments could undermine institutional stability.
They also sought explanations for the suspension of the recruitment process for a permanent college principal after concerns were raised about the legality of requiring the Nyukela Senior Management Service pre-entry certificate.
Members further requested clarity on the employment of foreign nationals in positions not classified as scarce skills and the reinstatement of an official who had previously been dismissed after being found guilty of tampering with student marks before successfully appealing through the Department of Higher Education.
“Having an acting principal and other senior posts occupied in acting capacity is causing instability in the leadership of the institution. We would like the department to look into that and address the situation. The issue of foreign nationals employed in non-scarce skills jobs is in violation of the Employment Service Act; it is against the law. We are not xenophobic; we are protecting the laws of the country,” Letsie said.
The leadership of Gert Sibande TVET College and the Department of Higher Education undertook to submit comprehensive written responses to all issues raised during the oversight visit.
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