Cubans 'won't take jobs from SA workers'
Cubans 'won't take jobs from SA workers'
SCHALK MOUTON | 18 September, 2013 06:27
Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said yesterday that Cuban water engineers were not coming to South Africa to steal South Africans' jobs. Molewa signed an agreement with her Cuban counterpart, Ines Maria Chapman Waugh, on September 9 that will bring 34 Cubans to South Africa to help fix water infrastructure.
South Africa was struggling with a huge skills gap, which the agreement was intended to plug, said Molewa. "There is a big gap in the skills capacity for the water sector and the economy as a whole .
"The energy and water services sector . [has] a skills gap of about 3000 engineers. The secondment of the Cuban water experts will not make much of a difference with such a large skills gap," she said.
The agreement with Cuba makes provision for the pairing of the imported engineers with young South African engineering students, Molewa said.
By the time the Cubans left, the students would have developed sufficiently to narrow the skills gap, she said.
More:
http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/2013/09/18/cubans-won-t-take-jobs-from-sa-workers
