Football legend joins new approach

Football legend Andre Arendse, former Bafana Bafana captain and Fulham goalkeeper in England's world-leading Premier league, has teamed up with Graham Emmett, managing director of KBC Health & Safety, to promote Riski Diski, a unique concept to identify and address risks and hazards in the workplace with a case study on safety in the mining industry – certainly a very topical issue.

Emmett, who has a Master's degree in industrial psychology, heads an international company with 22 branches across Southern Africa which specialises in assisting companies to manage their occupational health and safety exposure.

Arendse, now well-known as a TV sports personality, also runs Safe Hands Soccer, his specialist coaching company focused on the development of promising youngsters at the grassroots level. His skills have been honed by years of intensive training which is the daily routine at the top level of international football.

Both men will be part of a new, innovative approach to South Africa's critical issues at the Skills Development Summit at the CSIR convention centre in Pretoria on 28-29 October. Keynote speaker at the summit will be Prof Mary Metcalfe, director-general of the Department of Higher Education and Training.

"Professor Metcalfe, renowned for her practical approach, heads a list of powerful experts in this field who will bring a new dimension to the summit discussions," said summit director Dylan James.

"The objective is to seek out innovative solutions to the country's critical shortage of skills -- solutions that can be implemented at a practical level in the workplace. Of particular interest to many will be the presentation by Professor Lekoa Solly Mollo, Director-General of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) on skills development in the public sector.

"We are also very excited to have Michael Cosser, who is a chief research specialist with the education and skills development programme at the HSRC, who will speak on pathways through the education and training system and into the labour market," James said.

The summit, which is attracting key decision-makers and role players from all over Southern Africa, will be addressing both short-term and long-term needs in line with its Vision 2020 theme.

"This will be the start of an ongoing process involving the wider audience outside the summit itself," said James.

A feature of the summit will be the presence for the first time of experts from Stats SA whose manager of the national statistics systems division, Yandiswa Mpetsheni, will provide an analysis of skills databases and the usefulness of statistics in the training arena.

Among the topics to be discussed will be:

Apprenticeships into 2020

Aligning skills development with business strategy

Skills development in the public sector

Training and the return on investment

Developing the skills of senior management

"The important role and input of labour will also be high on the summit agenda with a presentation by Sheri Hamilton, Research and Development Manager of Ditsela - a joint project of the two largest labour federations in South Africa, COSATU and FEDUSA," said James.

For further information contact Dylan James on 021 681 7000 /  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / www.skillssummit.co.za.