Labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant to open a Supported Employment Enterprise factory to advance the employment of persons wi

Banner of the National Department of Labour together with the South African flag

24 April 2019

South Africa’s Labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant is to officially open a new manufacturing factory that is designed to employ people living with disabilities.

This historic event will extend the footprint of Supported Employment Enterprise (SEE) factories to Limpopo. The event, which will see Oliphant unveiling the plague, will take place at Seshego Industrial Park, near Polokwane on Monday (29 April).

The Supported Employment Enterprises exists to create employment for persons with disability and give them space in the labour market. Supported Employment Enterprises, formerly known as Sheltered Employment Factories (SEF) was established in 1943 to provide employment opportunities to disabled persons who were unable to hold down employment in the open labour market due to the nature of their disabilities.

SEE currently has 12 factories across South Africa operating in seven of the nine provinces, and the Limpopo opening will make it 13. The only province without a facility is Mpumalanga; however, plans are afoot to also open a factory.

The factories are located in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, East London, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Potchefstroom and Pretoria. The factories currently employ over a 1000 disabled people who are supported by 140 administration, management and technical staff.

The newly rebranded Supported Employment Enterprises was established through the Employment Services (ES) Act 4 of 2014. The Department of Labour’s Public Employment Services (PES) has oversight over the entity (SEE).

Some of the products manufactured by SEE factories include: office furniture; school furniture; hospital clothes; office safes and gates. The entity’s head office is located in Pretoria.

NB: Media is invited to the launch:

The details are as follows:

Date: 29 April 2019

Venue: 08 Freedom Drive – Seshego Industrial Park, Polokwane

Time: 09:00am – 13:00 (The launch will be preceded by an hour briefing starting at 09:00am)

For confirmations and more information contact:

Lerato Mashamba

Provincial Communication Officer

Department of Labour Limpopo

Cell: 0829081833

Tel: 0152901651

Email: lerato.mashamba@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by:

Teboho Thejane

Departmental Spokesperson

082 697 0694