Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Judith Nemadzinga-Tshabalala and fellow counterpart - Basic Education Deputy Minister Dr Makgabo Reginah Mhaule today embarked on a joint back-to-school campaign and paid an oversight visit to Supported Employment Enterprises (SEE) factories in move designed to strengthen inter-governmental relations.

 Deputy Ministers Nemadzinga-Tshabalala and Mhaule first visited Elethu Themba Combined School for a back-to-school campaign in the school that caters for learners from local indigent communities to make donations. 

The visiting party then proceeded to the SEE Rand and Springfield factories in Johannesburg.

 Supported Employment Enterprises is a public entity under the Department of Employment and Labour. Its mandate is to create sustainable employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The establishment operates 13 factories across eight various South Africa provinces, producing a wide range of goods including office furniture, metal safes, school and home furniture, hospital linen, protective clothing, uniforms, embroidery, screen printing, upholstery, cupboards, and bookbinding.

Deputy Minister Nemadzinga-Tshabalala said if a “slight procurement slice of DBE's" were to be given to SEE the fortunes of the factories can turn and these factories can hire more workers.  She appealed to DBE to consider using SEE as one of its suppliers, particularly for the school furniture.

Basic Education Deputy Minister Mhaule agreed that SEE was an arm of Government and needed to be supported as it plays a critical socio-economic role for people of South Africa. Mhaule said South Africa was in the middle of fighting unemployment and an institution such as SEE was playing that role. She said she had been to schools that do not have furniture and that the Department was on a drive to build more schools.

Mhaule said the outcome of the engagement today should be taken forward with the development of a formal memorandum.

The two Deputy Ministers meet following the recent address during the State of Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he said: “To ensure that no one is left behind, we are implementing decision to increase employment equity targets of persons with disabilities in the Public Service to 7% by 2030, and to mandate a 7% preferential procurement target across all government and public entities".

SEE Chief Executive Donald Nkadimeng said the Springfield factory is currently the encoring factory in terms of office furniture manufacturing. He said the focus of the factory is office furniture, home furniture, and school furniture. Nkadimeng said if supported the SEE factories in the short to medium term have a capacity to employ 2000 more people.

Nkadimeng said SEE's value creation model is based on creating employment and contributing to the education of persons with disabilities.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Teboho Thejane

Departmental Spokesperson

082 697 0694/ teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour

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