AgriSETA once again had a successful Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Seminar which was held over a two-day period at the Premier OR Tambo Hotel in September this year.

The AGM, attended by accredited training providers, AgriSETA stakeholders and government departments were informed that AgriSETA had once again received an unqualified report from the Auditor-General. This has been the seventh successive year of clean audit reports of which AgriSETA is very proud of. In April 2012, the Organising Committee at the AgriSETA hosted a competition amongst its stakeholders for those who had excelled in agricultural-related training presented by the AgriSETA.

The evening after the AGM, these winners were announced at a Gala Dinner. The guest speaker Mr Mlungisi Johnson, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries was proud to award these winners with cash prizes, to further expand on their knowledge within the agricultural sector.

AGRISETA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND SEMINAR

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE: • THE WINNERS IN THE VARIOUS CATEGORIES P2

• HLUMELELISA - DEVELOPING YOUNGSTERS TOGETHER P3 • AGRISETA EXHIBITIONS NELSON

MANDELA DAY CELEBRATIONS P4 • CAPE INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURAL TRAINING P5

• PROFILE OF DIVAN-JON PAULSE : BEST LEARNERSHIP STUDENT 2011 P5 •

APPLICATION TO OFFER SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING 2013/2014 FUNDING PERIOD P6 AgriSETA

AgriSETA News 1

Ms Sara Mofokeng receiving her award as winner of the category, Best Performing Learner: Skills Programmes along with Mr Mlungisi Johnson and Ms Jacomien de Klerk.

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At the Seminar held on the second day, there were various speakers addressing the stakeholders with the focus on “Cooperatives in the context of rural development”.

Invited speakers at the seminar were Dr T Ngomane (Office of the Presidency), Prof G Mayende (AgriSETA Chairperson), Ms Z Ndaba (SEDA), Mr Koos Pienaar (Milk Producers Organisation), Mr L Bale (SANACO), Mr S Khoza (AgriSETA Land Restitu-tion Manager) and Mr E Ralepelle (representative for the winner of the Excellence Awards Category: Best Governed Restitution Project after AgriSETA Land Reform Intervention). Prof M Nkondo gave the summation at the seminar.

All presentations made at the seminar can be found on our website www.agriseta.co.za under the Communication header.

The winners in the various categories were:

1. Learner Started own business after training intervention: Winner: Purple Spanner Cc R20 000

2. Best Performing Learner: ABET Winner: Faniswa Mtebele R10 000

3. Best Performing Learner: Apprenticeship Winner: Roderich Christiaan Gribnitz R10 000

4. Best Performing Learner: Bursary Winner: Nhlanhla Mathaba R10 000 Runner up: Mareli Kellerman

5. Best Performing Learner: Experiential Learning Winner: Thabang Ramogodi R10 000 Runner up: Phumudzo Sinthumule

6. Best Performing Learner: Internship Winner: Nqobile Cynthia Nxumalo R10 000 Runner up: Siphesihle Dlamini

7. Best Performing Learner: Learnership Winner: Chantelle du Plessis R10 000 Runner up: Maritza Stevens

8. Best Performing Learner: Skills Programmes Winner: Sara Mofokeng R10 000 Runner up: Ivan Beukes

9. Leading Private Service Provider: AgriSETA Skills Development Winner: Hygro Training College (Pty) Ltd R20 000 Runners up: National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation and BC Landscape Training and Consultancy Cc

10. Leading Employer: AgriSETA Skills Development: Winner: Senwes Beperk R20 000 Runner Up: Oos-Vrystaat Kaap Bedryf Beperk

11. Best Governed Restitution Project after AgriSETA Land Reform Intervention Winner: Bahlabine CPA R30 000 Runners up: Endlovini Communal Property Association (CPA) and Inkululeko Piggery (Pty) Ltd

AgriSETA News 3

HLUMELELISA - developing youngsters togetherStudents of Hlumelelisa’s AgriSETA-funded ornamental horticulture learnership, from the Thusong Youth Community Centre (in Alexandra), shared their excitement and passion for acquiring knowl-edge with sentenced students at the Hlumelelisa Training Centre at the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility.

With the permission of the Department of Correctional Services, Hlumelelisa has over the past nine years developed a Horticultural Training Centre at Leeuwkop. The training includes AgriSETA-accredited plant production and ornamental horticulture modules, as well as courses in sustainable food gardens, permaculture, entrepreneurship and life skills.

The stark reality is that both sets of students, those in the orange prison uniforms as well as those in their Hlumelelisa T-shirts have very little opportunity of finding secure employment.

A day like this in the classroom sharing the learning process as well as the sharing of life experi-ences and the importance of choices clearly demonstrated Hlumelelisa’s maxim to grow students whilst supporting the country’s desire for restorative justice and the value of ubuntu.

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AgriSETA EXHIBITIONS Nelson Mandela Day celebrations

AgriSETA participated in a number of career exhibitions in collaboration with various government departments distributing information of AgriSETA learnerships, career opportunities as well as the scarce and critical skills and apprenticeship programmes.

These exhibitions gave the SETA a chance to hear what people at grass roots are really going through and what the SETA could offer to assist in the field of the agricultural sector.

At the career guidance exhibitions the AgriSETA encouraged learners and the unemployed youth to follow careers within the agricultural sector as this could make a difference as it could be used as products to sustain life. There were positive responses from these learners once they had been informed of the broader perspective of agriculture and the various career paths to follow.

As Mandela said, “a world which doesn’t look after its youth is a doomed world,” we as AgriSETA were there to convey this message to the youth concerning opportunities within the sector. All 21 SETAs participated at the Nelson Mandela Day event held in Taung, North West. Learners were briefed prior to visiting the various stands about the various SETAs and the sectors they serve.

The AgriSETA also participated with the Department of Labour at the various Job Summits being held nationally during the year.

We further supported Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s campaign, “War on poverty” and the Department of Higher Education’s, “Apply now” campaign.

The AgriSETA made its presence active-ly known, and would prefer to be well-known specifically within the rural areas of the country.

AgriSETA News 5

Looking back over the past five years, the sub-programme, Further Education and Training (FET) at Elsenburg are proud of theachievements and successes reached over this period.

Delivering formal and non-formal training to beneficiaries, for the spectrum of agricultural beneficiaries as per the target group, the pass rate for the learnership students over the past five years averaged 77%. Graduations usually take place during the first week of December, where all successful learnership students receive their certificates.

Mr Simpi Mkiva, one of the learnership students (Vegetable Level 4), was recently employed at Avondrust Farms, near Stellenbosch. An independent consultancy firm, Nosipho Consultancy, commissioned by AgriSETA for monitoring and evaluation, visited Elsenburg which is part of the Further Education and Training (FET); Department of Agriculture: Western Cape. What was remark-able is that Elsenburg was one of few training institutions that scored the maximum of 5 points on each category of the evaluation report.

Furthermore, non-accredited short courses were presented to a total of 8 117 beneficiaries across the agricultural spectrum from 2008 till 2011, excluding the planned 1600 beneficiaries to be trained during 2012/2013. From the FET band 38 students successfully articulated to the Higher Education and Training (HET) band, of which 7 were accepted in the B.Agric programme, and one in the equine study field and the remainder qualified for the Higher Certificate.

The Novare Bursary was awarded to the following FET students, who were articulated to the HET band: Peter-John Danster (2008), Neljanine Soman (2009), Lonia Malatji (2010) and Divan-Jon Paulse (2011).

During the annual visit to AgriSETA, the sub-programme submitted their Portfolios of Evidence (POE’s) of the Learnership as part of the external moderation process. During the visit in November 2011, FET Elsenburg’s application to participate in Learnership Implementation during 2012/2013 was approved with accreditation as an Education and Training Provider, and their accreditation was extended until 01 December 2014.

All these achievements can only speak of sheer commitment, diligence, hard work and dedication of all the Elsenburg FET staff.

Compiled by: Further Education & Training DirectorateElsenburg Agricultural Training Institute

Cape Institute for Agricultural TrainingELSENBURG

Divan-Jon was born on 25 June 1984 in Citrusdal as the second eldest of four children. He matriculated in 2002 at Schoonspruit Secondary School in Malmesbury.

He completed a management course in 2006 and from March 2007 to August 2007, he worked as an intern at FSD in Clanwilliam. He has always been interested in agriculture and after completing his internship, he worked in the agricultural environment in Citrusdal until 2009.

Divan-Jon joined the FET Centre Clanwilliam in 2010 when he enrolled for the learnership in Plant Production, specialising in Pomology. He completed the level 1 Pomology learnership and was top of his class and received the award for the best level 1 Pomology learnership student at the end of 2010.

In 2011 he continued his studies and enrolled for the NQF level 4, Plant Production learnership. The curriculum exposed him to all aspects of viticulture, amongst other subject modules. At the end of the 2011, he once again excelled in his academics and was awarded the overall best learnership student for 2011, thus being nominated as the recipient of the Novare Bursary Award for 2011, to commence studies in 2012. Divan-Jon was accepted for the Higher Certificate Programme at the Cape Institute for Agricultural Training via the articulation process and he will be furthering his studies in Plant Production.

He is extremely grateful to his sponsor and for all role-players for affording him the opportunity to realise his dream and endeavours to work hard and eventually he would like to obtain either a Diploma or B.Agric qualification.

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APPLICATION TO OFFER SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING 2013/2014 FUNDING PERIOD

AgriSETA invites all AgriSETA STAKEHOLDERS to submit applications for skills development training in the Agricul-tural Sector. Priority should be given to the identified Sector Scarce and Critical Skills when submitting applications. Applications can be accessed on our website www.agriseta.co.za on the homepage or by contacting Mr Gerard Mamabolo on (012) 301 5607.

OFFICE CLOSUREPlease note our offices will be closed from 24 December 2012 until 02 January 2013.

CONTACT DETAILS Tel: (012) 301 5600Fax: (012) 325 1677 / 24Email: info@agriseta.co.za Website: www.agriseta.co.za

PROFILE OF DIVAN-JON PAULSE : Best Learnership student 2011