The building industry in South Africa is in tatters, heading downwards. The core of the problem, according to the captains of that industry, is that it cannot get properly trained artisans to help with construction.
The future looks bleak, especially in the construction industry where the prospects of employing fully trained artisans are not all good. Properly trained people such as carpenters, plumbers and bricklayers are hard to find, so contractors steal well-trained artisans from one other instead of getting them from the training institutions.
It is useful to track the evolution of the former technical colleges, which, before 2000, were filled with students who had signed up with employers. They contracted with building industry employers for a four-year indenture which comprised three months in teaching classes at the college to learn the particular trade, followed by nine months working on the job where they were taught by older, properly trained tradesmen. These contracts turned out many skilled artisans, after the students benefited from very good mentorship. Their loyalty to their industry contracting company was firm – there was no grabbing of newly qualified workmen, as is the case now.
The Technical Colleges Act 1981, No 104/1981 revised the older statutes covering the same provisions. The Act provided for the establishment, maintenance, management and control of technical colleges. Also, the minister could decide to create new technical colleges in other areas. Section 3 of the Act states that technical colleges shall provide post- school education, while section 16 deals with the syllabus for each subject being offered.
It is also useful to recall some earlier developments focused on the training of properly qualified artisans. The De Lange Commission was established in the early 1980s, chaired by Professor Pieter de Lange, who was the rector of Rand Afrikaans University. The report generated by that commission had many strings to its bow, especially so-called hard subjects such as syllabuses for the trade. Furthermore, De Lange, in a speech given in 1981 at St Alban’s College in Pretoria, suggested that South Africa must do more in the sphere of technical training. He referred to countries such as Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan where school pupils were encouraged to become very proficient in trade subjects. They were encouraged to be ambitious and to serve their trade – unlike in South Africa, as he saw it, where school leavers opted for university where students wanted to be lawyers, medical doctors or priests. The call for matric students was skewed.
Regrettably, not all of De Lange’s recommendations were followed, especially where his commission’s report strongly urged the scrapping of racial laws which distinguished whites from students of colour in technical colleges.
Earlier laws covering technical training and teaching artisans to secure employment and further their careers included the Educational Services Act No 41/1967 and the Manpower Training Act No 56/1981, which designated trades and trade schools, along with apprenticeship contracts, where trainees could become carpenters, plumbers, bricklayers or builders.
Outside South Africa, after the 1929 US stock market collapse, when people were thrown out from every form of employment and there were long lines for food, President Franklin D Roosevelt introduced his New Deal policy to encourage out of work people to create new things. One of his suggested avenues was the metal and wire industry where people could create iron chairs, tables, desks and fence wire at home to bring in cash. The thrust of these efforts was to create jobs and teach a trade to a pupil.
In the same way, Professor Carl Liedholm from Chicago, in a later interview, said carpentry skills could provide good employment for small businesses. Just look around a house or office and note all the wooden furniture that can be made.
Think of Toyota in Japan. All new employees – including those from university with majors in accounting, business and human resources – must first spend time on the shop floor where new cars and their engines and parts are manufactured. The company was adamant: you must start at the bottom, especially to understand how a machine is created and how it works. That is why Toyota is a market leader. Through technical training, people become proud of their efforts, results and employment records. Note the competitiveness of a nation through its training and education programmes.
We need to understand why companies like Japan and Germany became leaders, after they had been bombed in World War 2. They were at the forefront of understanding the logics of discovery, invention and maintenance.
Very regrettably the ANC government, starting in 2001, caused the closure of so many technical schools and colleges. Since that year, 105 colleges of education have closed, as student numbers fell from 700,000 to 130,000. Many of the four-year courses were phased out. People in the higher education arena were shocked when the late Kader Asmal closed technical colleges. Those closures meant there was little understanding of institutions such as MIT or Georgia Tech in the US – merging a technical college with a university was viewed as ridiculous.
In 2001, the government cut the number of technical colleges from 152 to 50 Further Education and Training colleges, which has resulted in chaos. Standards in the building industry have fallen. The sad story of the closure of the technical college in Epping, Cape Town, is just one example, where 156 fully trained educators were dismissed from their steady jobs. The college also closed its doors to 400 enrolled students – irrespective of their level of education or achievement – who were on their way to getting a trade.
Can you imagine the knock-on effect in sectors that rely on building and development efforts and industrial creation, including municipalities, mines, commerce and industry, which have all been affected by the paucity of trained artisans and personnel. Compounding the situation is the collapse of the planning sections of local municipal spheres.
There is a large group of unskilled people, having not received proper training, who are now the core workers in the building industry. Their presence slows down the construction sector. They are underdeveloped and undermotivated, and time wasting is the order of the day, leading to calls from the industry to bring back technical colleges.
One needs to be wary of criminal elements following regulations enacted in 2017 saying that 30% of the labour for construction projects must be recruited locally. Members of this so-called mafia push themselves to the fore as middlemen, and have closed down a large number of projects.
The reported comments on 23 June 2025 by Ronnie Siphika, the CEO of the Construction Management Forum, are notable. He said South Africa’s construction training model is built to fail. Administrated by the Construction Education and Training Authority, what should be a pipeline for artisan excellence had become a clogged artery of inefficiency, disconnection and system waste. Graduates left with a certificate but had no practical skills. He said many “qualified” students have never set foot on a functioning construction site.
Enquiries last week to the Department of Higher Education and Training about the reintroduction of technical training colleges did not inspire hope – the people there are not aware of any new developments in this regard. What a pity.
In light of this, spare a thought – a big one – for the building industry. The collapse of buildings like the one in George must be on the cards. DM
Contributors to this article: Professor Vil-Nkomo, chairperson of the Albert Luthuli Institute, and attorney Ms Ngakane, board member of the Albert Luthuli Institute.