The Federation increasingly emerged as the national champion of artisan training in South Africa . Aside from committed support for artisan training at national strategic level and at sector level on the Merseta , SEIFSA became an active participant by outsourcing the management of its apprentice training centre in Benoni to GijimaAST in 2003 . The centre was renamed Fundi Training Centre , and subsequently the SEIFSA Training Centre , and quickly established a reputation as a centre of excellence .
In response to growing artisan skills shortages , SEIFSA developed and piloted an innovative accelerated artisan training programme subsequently adopted and funded by the Merseta , which garnered national recognition . The Federation also secured donor funding to ramp up apprentice intake .
SEIFSA funded a major expansion of the SEIFSA Training Centre from the reserves of the previous Metal and Engineering Industries Education and Training Fund to cater for growing demand for training .
As the decade drew to a close , the global economic crisis began to take its toll on the national economy and on manufacturing , in particular . Many companies had to implement short-time working arrangements and largescale retrenchments as they were forced to move into survival mode .
At the end of the decade , the enormous national optimism of the fledgling democracy became tempered by an awareness of the multiple challenges across the political , economic and social spectrum . Nevertheless , the nation ’ s dream – despite the obstacles – t of reaching its full potential as a global example of genuine democracy in Africa , with equitable economic development and harmonious racial integration based on the ideal of Madiba ’ s rainbow nation , remained essentially undimmed
The end of the Collective Bargaining Levy and A New Era
When it expired in December 2012 , the Collective Bargaining Levy ( CBL ) was not renewed because of a dispute between SEIFSA and a new employer Association , NEASA . That dispute raged for a number of years , with the relationship between SEIFSA and NEASA becoming more strained .
The Federation ’ s previously-strong financial situation started to weaken in 2011 , when SEIFSA recorded its first loss as the number of companies affiliated to its member Associations dropped gradually . The non-renewal of the CBL a year later worsened the situation , and in May 2013 the SEIFSA Board of Directors ( called the Executive Committee at the time ) approved a deficit budget for the first time .
When he joined SEIFSA on 1 November 2013 – on the eve of a new round of wage negotiations – that is the situation that confronted new CEO Kaizer Nyatsumba . Through collaborative strategic planning sessions which involved all employees , Nyatsumba revised the Federation ’ s Memorandum of Incorporation ( to extend SEIFSA ’ s scope to the SADC region and to entrench corporate governance , with a Board of Directors replacing the former “ Executive Committee ”), as well as its positioning statement ( from “ Providing Industry Solutions ” to “ Our Passion , Your Success ”), its Vision , Mission and Values .
The 2014 wage negotiations began in March . At the February 2014 SEIFSA Council , SEIFSA member Associations decided on a list of demands of their own to be taken into the negotiations with labour . Among them was a demand for the signing of a Peace Agreement before anything else could be discussed in the negotiations .
Coming a few months after the unprecedented , five-month-long strike in the platinum mining sector a year earlier , which culminated in the Marikana massacre as well as sectors closely related to the metals and engineering industry , the 2014 negotiations proved to be very difficult . The sector suffered a month-long strike in July , at a time it was struggling terribly and the economy was ill performing . In the end , a three-year wage agreement was concluded .
Another wave of retrenchments and company liquidations followed .
The 2017 negotiations on wages and conditions of employment took place in a far more cordial atmosphere , a few months after the sector had experienced its worst slump in years . A more palatable , three-year settlement agreement was concluded in August 2017 , without a day lost to strike action .
Building on the legacy of the men who had gone before him , Nyatsumba – who is SEIFSA ’ s first black CEO during its 75-year history – introduced a number of new services in addition to those previously introduced by Angus . Some of these were Legal Services and an offering geared for smaller companies through the Small Business Hub . He also introduced an annual industry conference , the Southern African Metals and Engineering Indaba and the annual SEIFSA Awards for Excellence .
At a time when South Africa was blighted by poor economic policy choices , policy incoherence and general Government antipathy towards business , Nyatsumba ensured that SEIFSA ’ s voice was heard on all matters of economic and political significance , in the process raising the Federation ’ s public profile . He was the first person in the country to denounce the bloated size of the Cabinet announced by President Jacob Zuma when he began his second term in office in 2014 .
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Some of the content for this article was sourced from “ Organisation and Structure of the Metal and Engineering Industries in the Republic of South Africa ”, recording developments up to 1967 , and STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY , celebrating SEIFSA ’ s 60th anniversary , both previously published by SEIFSA .
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SEIFSA AT 75 - SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE MAGAZINE 35