A radical rethink in the education system is necessary if this country is to come to grips with the skills shortage, as the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) are not producing the goods, a top business leader warns.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry SA (Chamsa) president Janine Myburgh was responding to Premier Lynne Brown's address at the annual "Business meets the Cape Cabinet" seminar in the city on Wednesday.
Myburgh stressed the need to improve education and training to produce skilled individuals.
She said this would be the best solution "because it created more meaningful and satisfying jobs and productivity".
"I'm afraid this is one of the areas where we are not succeeding. To quote the Policy Co-ordinating Unit of the Presidency, the matric pass rate is falling.
The unit also produced other indicators which tend to paint a more optimistic picture, but the measure of our educational success must remain the matric pass rate, and especially the maths and science marks.
"If we do not succeed here at this vital interface between the education system and the commercial and industrial world we will not make progress.
"This pass rate simply has to improve if we are to produce the skills required for the modern world," said Myburgh.
Quoting a report on the development indicators compiled by the Policy Co-ordination Unit of the Presidency, she said there has been steady progress in reducing unemployment, with about 13,2-million people employed compared with 11,2-million an increase of 18 percent.
"Perhaps this is an even more striking figure, the number of taxpayers has increased from 3,2-million in 1996 to 7,9-milion in 2007.
That's a huge increase of 150 percent. Those jobs are obviously in the formal sector and there has also been significant growth in the informal sector.
"The truth is that business is crying out for people with skills, but the pool of the unemployed consists largely of the unskilled. So we have a mismatch."
Myburgh said there were two things that could be done to address the situation.
"One is to create more labour-intensive industries. But will they be competitive in a world of globalised trade? The second course is to improve education and training to produce the skills.
"This is the best answer because it creates more meaningful and satisfying jobs, and the productivity and pay are better."
Brown told the meeting that the role of business in partnership with government would be to "increase local content in production process; and to partner with government, universities in research and capacity-building".