Please find below part 1 of Government Gazette No. 42589, dated 22 July 2019, in which details pertaining to the scope of coverage of SETAs in terms of the Forestry and Forest Products Industries.
On 22 August 2018, the Department of Higher Educastion and Training Gazetted a proposal for the re-alignment of the then SETA landscape. This proposal would have seen the FP&M SETA merged with other SETAs – the Forestry sub-sector of the SETA being hived off to Agri SETA (which in itself would be merged with the FoodBev SETA) and the rest of the FP&M SETA (12 sub-sectors) being merged with the MERSETA – the largest SETA.
FSA subsequently drafted a submission to the DHET in which we rejected the entire concept of their proposal. The main thrust of our argument being the following:
- The placement of the Forestry sector in the merged (Agri SETA / Foodbev SETA) would split the synergies that existed with the rest of the forest sector value chain; and
- Even if Forestry was, with the rest of the 12 sub-sectors of the FP&M SETA, merged with MERSETA, this would be a retrogressive step as our voices would not be heard.
We thus delighted to report that sense has prevailed and that the DHET Minister has left the scope of the FP&M SETA intact. As the FP&M SETA was the third best performing SETA (out of 21) in 2018, we can thus, as an Industry, ensure the continued support that we have received in past years under the leadership of Mrs Felleng Yende, the CEO. This development is thus to be welcomed.
Source: Forestry South Africa
