Track record: CEO Yershen Pillay is determined to ensure that no South African is left behind in the 4IR.
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Zingisa Mkhuma
In welcoming the Auditor-General’s second clean audit and a 100% mark for meeting its organisational performance goals, the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA)’s upbeat CEO Yershen Pillay says with utmost humility that clean audits are not enough.
However, rather than brag about the clean audits, Pillay has admitted that two consecutive years of a healthy balance sheet have enabled a conducive environment for the CHIETA to achieve its 100% performance track record, which has had a profound impact not only on skills development in South Africa but also on job creation.
“CHIETA is satisfied that our commitment to sustainable livelihoods through good governance and impactful delivery on skills development has been acknowledged by the country’s foremost authority on compliance,” says Pillay.
“We need to have an impact and improve the quality of life. It’s the 7 893 jobs that we have created that bring meaning to having a clean audit. We talk about jobs. That’s why we exist. We have grown the SMMS sector by supporting 630 entities. We contribute to artisan development in the country, and we have trained 2 286 artisans so far.
“A clean audit is not enough. We are not celebrating a clean audit because that is the norm, not the exception. We can’t talk about performance when we don’t have compliance. A clean audit is the foundation for performance that impacts our communities and our country.
“We met our targets and beyond. We disbursed the highest number of grants - R470 million, a good example of our not sitting on the funds. We had a 32% increase in funding, but the number of beneficiaries also increased. We created 155 new levy payers.
“We are impactful in that we had 49,000 learners supported by CHIETA - a 50% increase. Our training has impacted 74 742 learners. We have created six High Impact SMART Skills Centres; supported 1 800 new businesses; developed 21 new qualifications; had above-inflation 5.1% income growth on our levy incomes and have created 10 212 chemical sector jobs”.
Pillay says the clean audit in 2023/2024 continues the same trajectory achieved in the previous financial year. “A testament to the highly motivated team at CHIETA, led by outstanding executives and guided by an engaged and committed board and its various committees”, he says.
Asked what he believes might happen in the future should he leave the CHIETA, Pillay says he trusts his team and assures that he is not working alone but recognises that he is a team leader who has to set the vision and leads by example.
As one of the youngest CEOs in South Africa, Pillay also believes in people that he regards as human beings and not just “assets on a balance sheet”.
“We have created a people-centred SETA, as we recognise that people are not assets on a balance sheet. We must recognise and appreciate people and their capabilities. I have been driving that … trust and established high trust, good leadership and management principles.
“We have a positive culture at CHIETA, a high-performance culture with high levels of integrity and leading by example. It’s culture first and everything last. Even during my spell at the NYDA, we didn’t just get clean audits. We instilled the value of integrity and driving excellence in the public sector.”
Pillay says the country’s chemical sector contributes massively to the economy and that CHIETA is mindful of impacting skills development and job creation in South Africa. In the 2023/2024 financial year, 74 742 individuals benefited from skills training programmes through CHIETA.
The CHIETA's impact on the country was further boosted by establishing SMART Skills Centres (SSC) in rural areas in six provinces throughout the country. To date, these centres have attracted more than 12,000 individuals who use the hi-tech facilities to learn or apply for bursaries or jobs, he says.
CHIETA has opened six SMART Skills Centres in rural South Africa. The first SMC was opened in Saldanha Bay, Cape Town, on 25 October 2022, and the latest was opened in July 2024 in Modjadjiskloof, Limpopo.
“Our mission is to bridge the digital divide and provide equitable skills development opportunities. This centre will empower our youth with the digital skills essential for thriving in today’s job market.
“This is not a computer lab. It’s a state-of-the-art SSC equipped with SMART boardrooms for startups and SMMES, virtual reality machines to train artisans and accredited training courses paid for by CHIETA. It is the first and only SSC in Limpopo,” says Pillay on the centre's opening.
“Now we are seeing the private sector coming on board, including PG South Africa, which wants to collaborate with us. Our call is to collaborate and upscale. Services SETAs had similar concepts, and they became white elephants.
“With collaboration from both the public and private sector, the CHIETAs can build SSC on every corner in every street riding on the three pillars - innovation, excellence and impact.
“We have a leading hydrogen centre for specialisation that will be a big green hydrogen skills centre, an example of excellence and innovation. We tick all the boxes, compliance, clean fill of financial health, and performance, and we have also achieved great things.
Wezi Khoza, the Chairperson of CHIETA, remarked that CHIETA’s achievement was pleasing because, as a board, they wanted the highest ethical standards and were satisfied to have achieved a clean audit for the second year.
“In achieving the clean audit and 100 percent of targets met, we are pleased CHIETA is doing its bit to ensure sustainable livelihoods through skills development, job creation and the SMART Skills centres, which ensure nobody is left behind in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Khoza concluded.