Struggle to recruit learners with disabilities

Employers are battling to find suitable candidates for their learnerships and with the changes in legislation, this might become an even bigger challenge

Rustim ariefdien
4 Min Read

Employers are battling to find suitable candidates for their learnerships and with the changes in legislation, this might become an even bigger challenge

In 2023, the Employment Equity Amendment Act stated that the target for Disability Employment Equity will be two percent. This is in line with the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act that states that two percent of the workforce should be black employees with disabilities.

The Skills Development Act states that four percent of skills funds should be for learners with disabilities. According to the latest Commission on Employment Equity Report, only 1,3 percent of the formal workforce are persons with disabilities.

2024 will bring about quite a few conundrums in terms of disability targets. The Census of 2021 results for disabilities will be released this year.

Will it go up from the 7,5 percent and align with the World Health Organization and International Labour Organisation’s 15 percent or will it go down? If it goes down, will the definition for disability be changed? How will it be changed?

As strange as this may sound, there is a possibility that the Census 2021 may reflect a lower number. Could this trend be supported by the challenge that employers are finding of recruiting persons with disabilities?

Employers are recruiting persons with disabilities for the B-BBEE Scorecard, and they are struggling. When they source candidates, they find that the candidate has already completed the learnership qualification that they are offering.

In fact, the “scarcity” of suitable candidates has introduced the sad reality that many unemployed South Africans are applying for learnerships with fake proof of disabilities. It seems like having a disability is trending?!

I do need to qualify that employers are very specific in their sourcing of candidates with disabilities. They generally are sourcing black candidates with disabilities who are under the age of 28 with a Grade 12 and in certain cases all the way down to Grade 9.

The Skills Development landscape is changing with a review of government policies currently underway. It seems that skills development funding is being directed more to civil society and away from business.

Work Readiness Programmes (WRPs) are being strongly supported and the notion of unsolicited funding applications seem to be promoted. Entrepreneurship is strongly emphasised as well.

This places NPOs, like QASA, in a favourable position to take advantage of this development. QASA’s WRP has been running for many years now. Covid-19 brought about the “work-from-home” revolution, which suited the QASA community. Many beneficiaries or clients at NPOs were disadvantaged as they are older than 28, which reduced their opportunities in learnerships.

With funding being reprioritised to NPOs, this part of our communities will benefit more. What are the skill sets of our QASA community and are they ready for an entrepreneurial journey? If so, then they can appeal to Business B-BBEE Enterprise Supplier Development needs. This is where enterprises need to develop small black business to develop, and potential be part of their supply chain.

2024 will present many opportunities for persons with disabilities. Are you ready to ride the wave of opportunity? The time is now!

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Rustim ariefdien
Disability Expert
Rustim Ariefdien is a disability expert extraordinaire, who assists businesses to “let the Ability of disAbility enAble their profitAbility” through BBBEE, skills development, employment equity and socio-economic development. He ensures that businesses are able to maximise their points on the BBBEE scorecard and become compliant with legislative requirements as stipulated in the Employment Equity and Skills Development Acts. His purpose is the economic empowerment of persons with disability in Africa. As a person with a disability himself, he has extensive experience in the development and empowerment of persons with disability.
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