When we talk about youth unemployment in South Africa, I think one of the biggest things we need to talk about is opportunity. It is easy to tell young people to study, get a qualification and find a job. But the reality is that getting your first opportunity can be one of the hardest parts. Many organisations want someone with experience, but as a young person, where are you supposed to get that experience if nobody is willing to give you a chance? I understand this beca

B-BBEE skills spend is often approached the same way. Allocate the budget, hit the target percentage, get the certificate, move on. It is a simple formula, and simple has its place. But when skills spend stops at the certificate, it misses the point of why the spend exists in the first place. At Sange SA, we look at this a little differently. We do not see compliance as a separate box to tick alongside our training work. We see it as Good Governance, and Good Governance is on

For weeks, the countdown clock was set. Legacy qualifications, the pre-2009 programmes that have anchored South Africa's skills development system for decades, were due to phase out on 30 June 2026. Learners were anxious. Skills Development Providers were recalculating enrolment plans. HR managers and SDFs were quietly asking the same question in every planning meeting: what happens now? Then, just before the deadline, Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela s

Last week we spoke about the pathway crisis facing South Africa's youth. Millions of young people are ready to work, but the routes into the job market are too thin. We explained why we exist and how we see ourselves as a partner in closing that gap. This week we want to get specific. Not the why, but the how. What does a real pathway actually look like, qualification by qualification, and where does it take a learner next? What "articulation" actually means Every qualificati

Right now, 3.4 million young South Africans are not in employment, education or training. At the National Education Summit 2026, the Minister of Higher Education and Training put it plainly: the country's real crisis is not unemployment on its own, it is a crisis of pathways. He also flagged that the economy needs about 30,000 new artisans every year, yet the system is currently producing only around 20,000. Numbers like that can feel abstract until you sit across from the yo

Most South African businesses pay their Skills Development Levy every month, yet recover less than or only 20% of the funding potentially available to them. Why? Because many organisations stop at the basics. They submit their Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR), claim their Mandatory Grant, and move on. But the businesses creating real workforce transformation are going further. They are tapping into SETA discretionary grants to support Learnerships,

Every year between January and April, organisations across South Africa begin preparing their Workplace Skills Plans (WSPs) and Annual Training Reports (ATRs) for submission to their respective Sector Education and Training Authorities. For many organisations, this period can feel like a race against time to meet the 30 April deadline. Yet for those who have worked closely within the skills development ecosystem, this season represents something much deeper than compliance. I