[And don’t forget the many Whites… who have skills… who are not allowed to be employed because they are White – and will therefore cause an imbalance in the racial quotas? Vast numbers of White males are unemployed… even though there are not enough blacks to fill the vacancies. Jan]

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — Sasol Ltd. can’t find the mechanics, welders and riggers it needs among South Africa’s 4.6 million unemployed workers as the country’s biggest company alters its refineries to meet government demands to phase out leaded fuel.

(96)`We will have to import, for the peak of the workload, about 2,000 qualified artisans,’ says Jannie van der Westhuizen, 55, human resources director at Johannesburg-based Sasol.

Almost 11 years after the end of apartheid, South African schools are struggling to overcome the legacy left by white- minority governments that refused to prepare blacks for skilled jobs. Employers from computer-services companies to builders and dental clinics are seeking to fill as many as 500,000 positions.

The scarcity of skilled workers may slow the expansion of Africa’s biggest economy, which accelerated to a four-year high of 3.7 percent last year. President Thabo Mbeki, in his state of the nation address Feb. 11, promised 21.9 billion rand ($3.7 billion) over the next five years to train workers.

(96)`(96)`I don’t think we are geared for the growth that is going to come through,’ says Craig Lawrence, 45, human resources director for Johannesburg-based Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s second-largest construction company. (96)`(96)`We have pretty much used up the skills we’ve got.’

Economic growth accelerated for five of the past six quarters as the central bank cut the benchmark interest rate to a 24-year low of 7.5 percent, boosting consumer spending. While unemployment stands at 28 percent, the highest among 61 countries tracked by Bloomberg, the expansion is draining the pool of skilled workers, forcing employers to leave positions unfilled, finance training programs and hire abroad.

Glut to Shortage

South Africa has as many as 500,000 vacant posts for computer technicians, financial managers, artisans and other professionals, estimates Iraj Abedian, chief executive of Pan African Advisory Services, a Johannesburg-based consulting firm.

(96)`(96)`Two-and-a-half years ago, there was a glut of skills,’ says Marilyn Chaplin, human resources director at London-based Dimension Data Holdings Plc, Africa’s biggest computer-services company. (96)`(96)`There is no doubt that over the last six to nine months we have found it a bigger challenge to fill high-end positions.’

The biggest weakness in South Africa’s schools is science and math education. Just 5 percent of the 471,080 high-school students who took their final exams last year passed top-level math, which is needed to study subjects such as engineering and accounting at university, according to the Education Department.

(96)`National Crisis’

In a country where 79 percent of the population is black, only 23 percent of those who passed higher-grade math in 2003 were members of the majority, the Centre for Development and Enterprise said in a November report titled (96)`(96)`From Laggards to World Class, Reforming Maths and Science Education in South Africa.’ The Johannesburg-based center is funded by companies, including Sasol and Standard Bank Group Ltd., South Africa’s biggest bank.

(96)`(96)`There is a national crisis in higher-grade maths and science education,’ the center said. (96)`(96)`This is holding back African advancement. It places a huge obstacle in the way of achieving almost all the government’s ambitions to open up vast new areas of opportunity for black South Africans.’

The shortage of skilled labor also increases costs for companies as they compete for workers.

The growth in hourly labor costs accelerated to 7.1 percent in the second quarter of last year, from 5.4 percent in the first, according to the Pretoria-based South African Reserve Bank. Sasol’s average annual wage costs per employee have more than doubled over the past five years to 282,000 rand. The company has about 30,900 workers and a market value of 89 billion rand.

(96)`Longer-Term Concern’

(96)`(96)`If we keep on growing at a rate of 4 percent, we are going to run into all sorts of skills shortages,’ says Mike Schussler, an economist at T-Sec Securities, a Johannesburg-based financial services company. (96)`(96)`We are already feeling it.’

The skills shortage isn’t yet a major issue for most companies, says Alwyn van der Merwe, a fund manager at Cape Town- based Old Mutual Asset Managers, which oversees the equivalent of $43 billion in assets.

(96)`(96)`It is a longer-term concern for us,’ he says. (96)`(96)`Quality of management is the No. 1 priority. At the moment, companies like Sasol have the skills to do the things they want to do.’

The FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index gained 53 percent in the past 24 months as earnings at South Africa’s biggest companies surged. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 42 percent in the same period. Sasol’s net income jumped 17 percent to 3.45 billion rand in the six months through June. Profit at Johannesburg-based Standard Bank rose 14 percent in the same period.

Under apartheid, South Africa’s schools were geared to serving the needs of the white minority.

Classes Under Trees

(96)`(96)`What is the use of teaching a Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?’ former Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, said in a speech to parliament in 1954. (96)`(96)`Education must train and teach people in accordance with their opportunities in life.’

Many black students dropped out of school, subscribing to the pro-democracy struggle’s slogan of (96)`(96)`liberation before education.’

The government has more than doubled education spending to 69.1 billion rand in a decade of democratic rule, and most children now attend school.

Yet the legacy of apartheid remains. About 100 rural schools hold classes under trees, and more than 2,000 are in unacceptable condition, according to the Education Department. An estimated 14 percent of adults are illiterate, the United Nations says.

Leaking Roof

Parents in Qandashe, a village in Eastern Cape province about 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Johannesburg, built a primary school after they got tired of waiting for the government, says Siphiwe Delubom, one of 13 teachers at the school. The seven classrooms house 400 students, and desks meant for two children are shared by four. There is no electricity, and teachers post lessons on second-hand blackboards, he says.

(96)`(96)`The walls are not too bad, but when it rains the roof is leaking and on windy days the roof shakes,’ Delubom says. (96)`(96)`It’s very difficult to teach.’

Teacher training is also deficient, according to the Centre for Development and Enterprise. Only 15 percent of the country’s math and science teachers are qualified to teach the subjects, the center said in its report.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, last year started a training academy in Johannesburg to prepare university graduates for technical jobs at the company. Twenty-four students have enrolled in the program since August, and Microsoft plans to expand it this year.

Training Programs

(96)`(96)`It’s really hard to find people with two to three years experience,’ says Gordon Fraser, managing director of Microsoft in South Africa. (96)`(96)`In some cases, it can take us two to three months to fill positions.’

Sasol, Africa’s biggest company by sales, is recruiting artisans for its unleaded-fuel project in Asian countries, including Thailand and the Philippines. At home, the company pays tuition and living expenses for about 450 university students who agree to work for the company after they graduate. The program costs 75,000 rand per student each year.

(96)`(96)`If we take away the bursary scheme, then supply would not be sufficient,’ says Johann Swartz, 54, Sasol’s learning and development manager.

In 1998, the government introduced a law forcing companies to contribute 1 percent of their wage bills to training programs administered by the state. Companies must submit training proposals to Sectoral Education and Training Authorities, or SETAs, which provide funding for the programs they approve.

The SETAs, which collect about 350 million rand a month, have done little to alleviate the skills shortages, and the bureaucracy slows down training programs, says Peter Rantla, human resources director at Grinaker-LTA, a unit of Sandton-based Aveng Ltd., South Africa’s biggest construction company.

Scouting Talent

(96)`(96)`The SETAs are not working,’ he says. (96)`(96)`It is so frustrating. You submit a proposal and it takes a year to get a response.’

The government plans to expand the SETA program and make it more efficient as South Africa seeks to cut the unemployment rate in half by 2014, Labor Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said Feb. 14 in Cape Town.

Skilled black professionals are especially sought after as the government pressures companies to hire and promote black workers to make up for discrimination under apartheid.

Patrick Mathidi, 35, says recruiters regularly approached him with job offers when he was head dealer at Cape Town-based Investec Asset Management, South Africa’s second-biggest fund manager. Mathidi accepted an offer to become deputy managing director at Johannesburg-based Andisa Securities in October 2003, and was named managing director seven months later.

(96)`(96)`You need to fend off quite a lot of advances,’ he says.

Work to Be Done

Parliament last year eased immigration laws to make it easier for companies to hire workers from abroad when their skills aren’t available in South Africa. The government has also launched a campaign urging South Africans working in other countries to return home.

Those steps may not be enough to end the shortage.

(96)`(96)`To increase the numbers of skilled workers, we have met the target set by the Growth and Development Summit and trained more than 80,000 learners,’ Mbeki, 62, said in his latest state of the nation speech. (96)`(96)`It is clear, however, that more work will have to be done to raise the skills levels of our people.’

Source: Bloomberg.com
URL: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nife…/p>