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Deputy minister tells SETAs to judge training by jobs

Published

Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Yusuf Cassim said skills programmes should be measured by employment outcomes, not by learners trained or certificates issued. He spoke at a CATHSSETA stakeholder session in Cape Town on Thursday.

Cassim cited a track-and-trace study by the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA). The study covered 319 learners and 30 employers. It found that 58.5% of respondents had secured full-time employment.

Cassim warned that the findings should not be read as a national employment rate. He also said they should not be assumed to represent every CATHSSETA programme.

He said skills development cannot solve unemployment on its own. He said training that is disconnected from economic demand wastes public resources and human potential. Statistics South Africa put unemployment at 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, and at 47.4% among people aged 15 to 34.

Cassim said: "Public funding must produce measurable results."

Key facts

Who
Yusuf Cassim (Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister); Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training… (sector education and training authority (CATHSSETA) hosting the stakeholder…)
What
Deputy Minister Yusuf Cassim urged sector education and training authorities to judge skills programmes by employment outcomes, speaking at a CATHSSETA Accounting Authority stakeholder session in Cape Town. He cited a CATHSSETA track-and-trace study of 319 learners and 30 employers, in which 58.5% of respondents had secured full-time employment.
When
22 October 2026
Where
Cape Town, South Africa
Status
Reported

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