FRUIT FARM EMPOWERS ITS LABOURERS

"I can drive!" "And I can teach others!" These are the proud affirmations of just two employees of a Western Cape fruit farm that implemented adult literacy training for its labourers a year ago.

When the fruit season ended in May last year, Chiltern Farms in Grabouw started with 40 of its workers on the Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programme devised by adult education company Media Works. Within a year, the difference that this programme has made in the lives of the labourers at Chiltern Farms is clear. One of the learners, Patrick Monyane, was totally illiterate when he started the ABET programme.

Patrick has just passed his learner drivers license. He is especially proud of the fact that he no longer has to ask for help when completing forms at the post office or bank.

A domestic worker on the farm, Gloria Gcali, was trained by Media Works and is now the farm's ABET facilitator. She spent every afternoon in the training room assisting learners with their computer-based work and marking and commenting on their written work.

Chiltern Farms' Suzie Mudge says, "The beauty of the Media Works programme being computer-assisted is that each learner can work at his own level and at his own pace. If an employee is on leave, or has to miss his session because he or she is busy at work, they can just pick up where they left off and carry on. A learner's level of competence and his mistakes can also be kept private. A learner need not feel embarrassed at showing up his shortcomings in front of his work-mates as only the facilitator need know.

"One thing that all of our learners have in common is their gratitude at being given the opportunity to learn something as simple as writing their own names. Their delight in their newfound skills is heartwarming to see and makes all of their very hard work worthwhile."

AGRISETA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & CONFERENCE

The AgriSETA held its second Annual General Meeting on Thursday 26th October 2006 at the Kopanong Hotel in Benoni.

Former Chairperson, Mr Sipho Khumalo representing the employee’s handed the reigns to Mr Jack van Dyk, previously the Vice Chairperson of the Executive Committee and Governing Body. Ms Elizabeth Monoto of FAWU representing the employees was elected as the new Vice Chairperson of the Executive Committee and Governing Body.

MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2006/2007
 

NAME	NAME OF ORGANISATION
Mr Jack Van Dyk	Agri (Western Cape) (CHAIRPERSON)
Ms Jacquie Bhana	Tongaat Hulett Sugar Limited
Mr Kammie Strydom	Grain South Africa
Ms Pulane Maine	Food & Allied Workers Union (FAWU)
Ms Elizabeth Monoto	Food & Allied Workers Union (FAWU) (VICE CHAIRPERSON)
Mr Zacharia Mohanoe	National Union of Farm Workers (NUF)

Mr Jack Van Dyk, the new Chairperson

Ms Elizabeth Monoto, Vice Chairperson

MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY 2006/2007

 

NAME	NAME OF ORGANISATION
Prof Daan Prinsloo	Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa
Ms Di Goodwin	South African Green Industry Council
Mr Phillip Mokoena	FAWU
Ms Elizabeth Monoto	FAWU (VICE CHAIRPERSON)
Dr Gerhard Neethling	RMAA
Mr Jack Van Dyk	Agri (Western Cape) (CHAIRPERSON)
Ms Jacquie Bhana	Tongaat Hulett Sugar
Mr Johnny Burger	Solidarity
Mr Kammie Strydom	Grain South Africa
Mr Len Hansen	Astral Operations Ltd
Mr Mbu Jolisa	FGWU
Mr Mzomtsha Jonase	FAWU
Mr Otto Mbangula	NAFU
Ms Pulane Maine	FAWU
Mr Riaan Gerritzen	Vrystaat Koöperasie Beperk
Mr Sipho Khumalo	FAWU
Mr Ben Mtshali	SAFATU
Mr Jacques van Niekerk	Early Bird Farms
Mr Zacharia Mohanoe	NUF
Mr Zola Nkomo	FAWU

Acronyms
Food & Allied Workers Union (FAWU)
National African Farm Workers Union (NAFU)
Food & General Workers Union (FGWU)
South African Food and Allied Trade Union (SAFATU)
National Union of Farm Workers (NUF)
Red Meat Abattoir Association (RMAA)

Stakeholders from across the agricultural sector attended the AGM and also participated in the first ever conference of the SETA. The conference focused on “Scarce & Critical Skills within the agricultural sector”.

Guest speakers were, Ms Nkileng Mashoai of the JIPSA Secretariat, Dr Florus Prinsloo representing the National Department of Labour, Professor Nick Vink of the University of Stellenbosch, also the Chairman for Agricultural Policy, Mr Joe Kgabokoe of the National Department of Agriculture, and Ms Jacquie Bhana of Tongaat Hulett Sugar.

Presentations were made by all guest speakers and in due course will be placed on the AgriSETA website under the Skills Planning menu, with descriptive notes to inform those who were not able to attend the conference. Positive feed back was received and requests were made for another conference to be arranged in coming year. Stakeholders were also treated at a Gala Dinner the evening of 26th October 2006.

 

WORKPLACE SKILLS PLAN

In preparation for the submission of the 2007/2008 Workplace Skills Plans (WSP), AgriSETA intends to host a number of one-day interactive seminars with Skills Development Facilitator’s (SDF’s). Within the context of Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGI-SA) and Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA), the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) has re-aligned itself to focus more directly on scarce and critical skills. SETAs will follow suit and future funding will be aligned to eradicating scarce and critical skills. To find out more about ASGISA and JIPSA, visit the website www.skillsportal.co.za

Stakeholders are also advised to observe the focus for scarce and critical skills as recorded in the draft Sector Skills Plan (SSP) for AgriSETA 2006 – 2010. The draft SSP is on the website www.agriseta.co.za under the sub-heading “Skills Planning” on the home page. It is quite a lengthy document and as a minimum you are advised to carefully consider the contents of Chapter 4 and the subsequent scarce and critical skills list which forms part of the chapter.

Venues are to be finalised early December 2006 and will be placed on the website. Dates would be scheduled around the last week of February and the month of March 2007. This would provide sufficient time to develop the WSP, which needs to be submitted by end of June 2007.

Please visit the website during December for more information or contact Myra Hoffman on (021) 949 4885.

VISIT FROM THE CHINESE DELEGATION

Early October, the AgriSETA received a visit from the Minister of China and his delegation. They recently visited the National Department of Labour to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.

Mr Johann Engelbrecht, Skills Planning Manager of the AgriSETA, gave a presentation of the SETA. Recent visits also included a Cuban delegation.

NEW FACE AT AGRISETA

Ms Minah Matloa is the new Administrative Assistant Quality Control: Monitoring in the ETQA Department. She will be assisting Dominicus Yotwana, dealing with the Accreditation Processes. Contact details for her are minah@agriseta.co.za.

 

CONTACT:

Tel: (012) 325 1655
Fax: (012) 325 1624/77
Email: info@agriseta.co.za
Website: http://www.agriseta.co.za

For comments and suggestions please write to:

Caren Cleinwerck
caren@agriseta.co.za
Fax: (012) 325 1624
Tel: (012) 325 1655 ext 111