14 August 2023
By: Jasper Raats
Allowances that have helped thousands of workers become foremen and managers at major agricultural enterprises are drying up.
Major contributors to AgriSeta have been left wanting when it allocates discretionary allowances, say agricultural training institutions. They warn this could halt worker training at some of South Africa’s largest farms.
According to the Skills Development Act (Act 97 of 1998) and the Skills Development Levies Act (Act 9 of 1999), all employers with an annual payroll of R500,000 or more must pay AgriSeta a skills levy equal to 1% of their annual payroll.
AgriSeta makes allocates 20% of the money to farms or companies that meet its administrative conditions and can use 10% for administrative purposes.
The remaining 70% of the skills development levy is awarded to employers at the Seta’s discretion. Employers must apply for these allowances.
This is where institutions such as Skills for Africa and the Hoedspruit Hub collaborate with farms and agricultural businesses to equip as many agricultural workers as possible with accredited training.
“While the Seta levy is only 1% of a farm’s payroll, it is a significant amount for some of the large farms we work with,” says Chantal Vorster of the Hoedspruit Hub. “Some of our major training clients have up to 1,000 workers in their employ.”
Over the years, thousands of workers have benefited from farm discretionary allowances. “We have seen ordinary farm workers progress to foremen and production managers thanks to the Seta allowances for training over several years,” says Johan Potgieter of Skills for Africa, an agricultural training centre that helps organise training for farm workers and staff nationwide.
Formula adjusted
In the past, farmers could claim back 70% of the money they paid to the Seta as mandatory allocations, but this was reduced to 20% in 2014.
Since then, funding for the training of farm workers has become unpredictable, and farmers say they cannot implement effective training programmes because they do not know from year to year whether the Seta will grant them a discretionary allowance.
‘Process being followed’
Innocent Sirovha, the CEO of AgriSeta, says applications exceed the available funds, and the 2023 funding has been allocated in accordance with the agricultural sector’s needs.
“It is a process that we follow, and which is in line with AgriSeta’s sector skills plans, skills, and the government’s preferences for employment in the sector,” he says.
In a letter to applicants, Sirovha says those who were not notified between April 14 and May 15 that they will receive funding should consider their applications unsuccessful.
He encourages them to reapply next year. None of the Hoedspruit Hub’s major agricultural clients received a discretionary allowance this year, and only a few of the 35 major farms where Skills for Africa provides training received what they applied for.
Many of the discretionary allowances are paid to farmers and groups who did not contribute to the fund because their annual payrolls are less than R500,000.
Questions about students
“We see many of the beneficiaries of these allowances are people who apply as a cooperative group of five to 10. So, we know the money is indeed paid out,” says Potgieter.
However, he is concerned about the effectiveness of the training provided by such cooperatives, especially when the same training is applied for every year.
Potgieter believes the Seta should place more emphasis on the motivations accompanying applications to ensure there is a purposeful plan behind training, rather than just obtaining money.
He suspects commercial farmers who are major contributors to the Seta fund compete with institutions that are more focused on money than on training.
