OPINION | Eastern Cape skills plan needs to be properly implemented

A province employing 184,349 public servants, grappling with a youth unemployment rate near 47%, and facing a 15% vacancy rate in funded posts, cannot rely on intuition for workforce planning. The newly drafted Eastern Cape provincial sectorskillsplan (PSSP) 2025-2030, commissioned by the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA), stands as one of the province’s most thoroughskillsdevelopment frameworks to date. The Eastern Cape exemplifies stark contrasts.

It hosts the Coega special economic zone (SEZ), Africa’s largest industrial development hub, alongside key ports in Gqeberha, KuGompo City and Ngqura that bolster national freight and trade. The coastline offers vast renewable energy potential, while Gqeberha’s automotive cluster ranks among SA’s top industrial assets. Yet roughly 580,000 youth aged 15-24 are not in employment, education or training (NEET), yielding a 38% NEET rate.

Rural areas like OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts rank among the nation’s most economically deprived. In the 2023 National Senior Certificate exams, only 32% of Eastern Cape pupils scored above 50% in mathematics, below the national 41% average, a core skills deficit that hampers all future pipelines. Its diagnosis highlights compounding structural issues, rejecting piecemeal, compliance-focused training.

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Instead, it advocates a unified, economy-driven and accountable skills system. The plan organises around 10 strategic priorities, shifting from siloed departmental efforts, often tied to mandatory workplace skills plan submissions, to holistic human capital investment. Central is a proposed provincial public sector training academy, aligned with the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO).

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