The Human ResourceDevelopment Council of South Africa held its first meeting of its second term(2013 -2018) on 26 September 2013 at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential GuestHouse in Pretoria. Council is chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.The meeting took an opportunity to introduce its new Council Members.Furthermore, the Council observed a moment of silence on the passing of one ofits Council members, Mr Lot Ndlovu.

Minister Nzimande presentedrecommendations from the Economic Development Department, the HRDC TechnicalTask Team on the alignment of the Human Resource Development Strategy to theNational Growth Path (NGP) and from the Department of Higher Education andTraining on Skills Planning. Council signed off the work that was done by theTechnical Task Team on the alignment of the HRDS to the NGP and accepted therecommendations as presented.  All implementers are required to provideprogress reports to the Council periodically.

The Skills System ReviewTechnical Task Team presented its work on the review of the Skills System inSouth Africa.  After careful deliberations an extension of the mandate ofthe task team was granted for another three months with a report backdate of 5December 2013, as more work needed to be done in this regard.

The presentation from theDepartment of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) formally introduced thePublic Sector Skills Committee (PSSC) as the coordinating structure to realisethe goal of a capable workforce for government.  The meeting approved theformalisation of the PSSC as a coordinating structure to ensure that publicsector has the capacity to meet priorities of a developmental state.

The Department of PublicServices and Administration, through Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, also introducedthe National School of Government, which will be responsible for education,training and development programmes in a uniform public service, as well as to develop a professional, responsive and capable publicservice driven by the imperative of a developmental state.

The meeting also signedoff on the HRDCSA Annual Report for the financial year 2012/2013.

The HRDCSA is a national,multi-tiered and multi-stakeholder advisory body under the leadership andstewardship of the office of the Deputy President of South Africa.

Enquiries:  BrendaNtombela: Head of the HRDCSA Secretariat on 012 312 5075 / 082 573 3716 ntombela.b@dhet.gov.za

Issued by: The Secretariat of theHuman Resource Development Council of South Africa