The average age of artisans in South Africa is 55, meaning that specialised industries such as mining and engineering may face a significant skills crisis in the next five to 10 years if more potential learners are not trained in these vital areas. This is according to Mdu Dlamini, Organisational Development Manager at AEL Mining Services, the largest supplier of explosives technology and initiating systems in Africa, who says this is concerning as there is already a dearth of skills available. “It is critical that companies conceptualise and implement viable apprenticeship and learnership programmes in order to ensure the next generation is effectively trained. Many of the people who currently work in AEL’s Engineering Department were trained through our old apprenticeship programme.”

He says that the number of apprenticeships in South Africa has declined significantly since the advent of the Skills Development Act, which promotes Learnerships rather than Apprenticeships, though both are hugely important to the economy: “Learnerships have tax breaks built into them to incentivise companies to implement such initiatives, thankfully the government is also promoting apprenticeships now.”

Dlamini says the number of South Africans who wish to pursue this form of training programme is astounding, given the high rate of youth unemployment. “AEL alone receives hundreds of applications each year but we are only able to take on a limited amount, so we would urge all companies in the engineering, manufacturing and research fields to consider implementing such schemes. It is hugely important that all South African companies commit to investing in developing our human resources. Eskom had a very successful training programme in the 1990’s, which trained hundreds of engineers and a similar concept could be rolled out in conjunction with CHIETA [Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority].” Dlamini says AEL has a range of programmes including manufacturing learnerships, internships and apprenticeships that it runs on an annual basis.