Northern Cape Business 2025-26

SPECIAL FEATURESkills

SPECIAL FEATURESkills and jobs are centre stageTertiary institutions, provincial government, state-owned enterprises and the privatesector are closing the skills gap in the Northern Cape.From unemployed to graduates in solar panelmaintenance, De Aar.When Northern Cape Premier DrZamani Saul delivered the State ofthe Province Address (SOPA) atthe Mittah Seperepere ConventionCentre in March 2025, he not only inauguratedthe seventh administration of the provincialgovernment, but also fired the starter gun on acampaign to focus on skills and jobs.As one would expect from a man with astrong academic background, Dr Saul gavespecial attention to education as the basis onwhich training for skills is built.In the five years of the previous term ofoffice, more than 900 teachers were added tothe cohort of educators. For the 2025 year, thePremier announced that close to 300 bursarieswould be granted, at a cost of R17-million. Bytargeting the study of certain subjects, thepriorities of the Provincial Human ResourcesDevelopment Strategy are to the fore: “addressthe skills mismatch” in the province. Subjectschosen are Agriculture, Computer Science,Engineering, Science, Law, Commerce, Education,Fine Arts, Humanities and Health Sciences.An “Access for Success” university preparationprogramme is underway in the !Kheis Municipality,enabling pupils from economically disadvantagedareas to study STEM subjects (Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics).Leading an article on jobs and skills withreference to university studies might seemstrange, but Sol Plaatje University (SPU) has anunderstanding that it needs to be relevant to theneeds of the province where it is located, and thatincludes preparing people for the jobs market.SPU is decidedly not neglecting its highereducational responsibilities, and Premier Saulproudly noted in his speech that the universityhas 13 nationally recognised researchers, butthe launch of the Centre for EntrepreneurshipDevelopment and Research (CEDAR) and theestablishment of the Centre for Entrepreneurshipand Rapid Incubator in Upington indicate awillingness to help prepare young people forrunning businesses.The university’s Talent Pipeline Programme(TPP) helps to prepare matriculants from localschools for university education and the LesediLa Afrika Fund supports scholarships andsocial-impact projects. The fund recently receivedR20-million and R5-million from Kumba Iron Oreand the De Beers Group respectively.Other options that SPU offers that are highlyrelevant to Northern Cape realities are the Riskand Vulnerability Science Centre where climatechange is a key focus, in a hot province whichis getting hotter. The Department of ComputerScience and Information Technology is highlyrelevant in a province hosting one of the world’sgreat astronomy projects, the Square KilometreArray (SKA).National and provincial plansA Provincial Skills Development Forum is to beestablished which will operate within theframework of a national target of 2.5-million newNORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/2610PHOTO: DLO Skills Initiative

SPECIAL FEATUREjobs by 2030. The Northern Cape has set a targetof 60 000 in five years.This will be the end goal of the “Northern Cape60 000 Jobs Plan 2025-2029”, a roadmap in whichthe priority sectors will be mining, agriculture,renewable energy, manufacturing, tourism andthe oceans economy.In SOPA, Dr Saul noted that in the five years to2025, the province had created 27 000 jobs andthat the figure for current employment (on theMarch morning on which he was speaking) was355 000, the highest number ever achieved inthe province. A total of 80 000 new jobs had beencreated between June 2020 and March 2025.Central to achieving these goals are the SectorTraining and Education Authorities (SETAs) andthe Technical and Vocational Education andTraining (TVET) colleges, which have a tightfocus on the acquisition of skills that will enableemployment. Finding the correct and relevantcourses are critical if the skills gap is to be closed.There are two TVET colleges in the NorthernCape but both have multiple campuses. TheNorthern Cape Rural TVET College consists of fivecampuses located in Upington, Kathu, Kuruman,Namaqualand (Okiep, pictured) and De Aar whileThe Northern Cape Rural TVET College comprisesfive campuses.the Northern Cape Urban TVET College comprisesthree campuses in Kimberley: City Campus,Moremogolo Campus and Phatsimang Campus.In 2022, a total of 11 897 students enrolled to studyat these facilities.The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) haspartnered with the Northern Cape ProvincialGovernment in rolling out skills programmes.The UIF Fund’s Labour Activation Programmeinvested R725-million aiming to benefit23 000 unemployed young people. So far,11 083 youth have been signed up and arestudying construction, enterprise development,ICT, agriculture, security, mining and hospitalityon a three-year programme.In 2025, 800 people will study subjects suchas arc welding, electrical engineering, renewableenergy and mechanical workshop assistant.Other notable contributors highlighted bythe Premier include:• merSETA: skills and bursaries, R210-million,2 000 beneficiaries• Services SETA: skills and bursaries, R45-million,755 beneficiariesThe province’s big mining companies investheavily in skills development and have formeda significant part of the training landscape formany years.Minerals Council South Africa reports that26 mining companies spent about R500-millionin the Northern Cape in 2015 on various socioeconomicdevelopment initiatives, includingeducation and skills training. This spendingcontinues in the present day.The province’s newest big sector, renewableenergy, is similarly investing in training. TheDLO Skills Initiative, which aims to ensure thatlocal adult workers, youth and women are notleft behind in the Just Energy Transition, haspartnered with Chinese renewable energycompany Longyuan South Africa Renewables toprovide 100 unemployed youth in De Aar witha three-month training course in solar panelcleaning and maintenance. ■11 NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/26