It’s agreed: artisans do not do less important jobs, and SA needs more of them
Officials and ministers were speaking at the launch of the Moses Kotane Institute skills centre programme that will give practical and workplace experience
We need more artisans. This was the sentiment expressed by Gauteng infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo‚ speaking alongside Deputy Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela on Thursday. The two said society needed to do away with the mindset that artisan jobs were less important‚ as their skills were in demand in SA at the moment. They also urged people to enrol in colleges‚ irrespective of their ages. Manamela argued that artisan jobs were regarded as having less prestige because one got one’s hands dirty, but he said this idea needed to be done away with as there were many benefits of this kind of work — including good salaries: "Artisans are better paid than some of us in suits and ties." Artisans include carpenters‚ electricians‚ mechanics and technicians. According to Bethuel Netshiswinzhe‚ head of the infrastructure department‚ the average entry salary of an artisan was R199‚000 a year in his department; it is R368‚000 a year at Eskom. Netshiswinzhe‚ Manamela and Mamabolo were s...
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