Good morning and thank you Programme Director, Chairperson of CRESTT Mr. Fefa Moleleki, the MQA interim Board Chairperson Mr Ogodiseng Senye, representatives from the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, the Minerals Council South Africa, professional associations, employers, organised labour, higher education institutions, candidates, MQA colleagues and all partners gathered here today.
On behalf of the MQA, I extend warm greetings and heartfelt appreciation for your presence here today. Your collective presence and participation affirm our shared commitment to skills development, safety, and productivity in the mining and minerals sector.
Earlier, we observed a moment of silence to honour those who have lost their lives in our sector. Let us never forget that behind every safety statistic is a human being a father, a mother, a colleague, a friend. Their memory must move us beyond compliance, to a deeper commitment of zero harm. Every conversation we hold today, every decision we make, must serve that ultimate goal a mining sector where skills, competence, and safety are inseparable. The work we do today is ultimately about safeguarding people, ensuring that women and men who work in our sector are trained, competent, and able to return home safely every day.
Today’s workshop has a clear purpose, to confront the challenges in Certificates of Competency (CoC) attainment and to leave with practical, jointly owned solutions. Our sector cannot afford fragmented efforts or parallel conversations. We need a single table, a shared diagnosis, and a coordinated plan of action. That is this forum and that is our task together.
Our programme reflects this intent.
Today’s Stakeholder Workshop and Focus Group Session bring us together to address one of the most critical issues in our sector the challenges in obtaining Certificates of Competency (CoC). This is not merely an administrative concern. It is a skills development and safety imperative. The ability of candidates to achieve competency and certification directly affects all of us.
The MQA, as the Sector Education and Training Authority mandated to facilitate skills development for the mining and minerals sector, stands firmly committed to working with all stakeholders to strengthen pathways toward competence from education to workplace training, to certification.
As we look ahead, the MQA’s Strategic direction is anchored on a bold vision to build a competent, safe, and transformed mining and minerals sector through skills development that delivers measurable impact.
Our new organisational values Collaboration, Customer Centricity, Innovation, Impact, and Ethics are more than just words. They express how we will implement our mandate and lead the sector with excellence.
The challenge of improving Certificates of Competency attainment is directly linked to the MQA’s strategic focus. Every qualified and competent individual in our mines represents a stronger system, a safer workplace, and a more sustainable operation. The MQA views the improvement of Certificates of Competency outcomes as a strategic pillar of safety and productivity because competency is safety in action.
Through our Candidacy Rock Engineering and Seismology Task Team, we have identified critical constraints from low pass rates and limited mentorship to uneven access to practical exposure and fragmented coordination. These are not isolated problems; they are systemic challenges that require systemic solutions.
That is why today’s dialogue is not just about diagnosing problems but about building a unified national approach to competency one that integrates training, supervision, mentorship, and certification within a coherent, responsive system.
The MQA is here to lead not from a distance, but from the centre of collaboration.
Our mandate compels us to mobilise partnerships, channel funding strategically, and ensure that every investment in skills development yields tangible outcomes.
The MQA envisions a future where:
- Every learner in a mining discipline has a clear, supported pathway to competence and certification.
- Every workplace prioritises competence as the first line of defence against accidents.
- Every employer sees skills development not as a cost, but as an investment in human capital and operational excellence.
We are designing integrated data systems to track learner progression, strengthen quality assurance, and promote accountability. We are funding workplace-based learning and mentorship initiatives that prepare candidates for certification success.
And we are fostering innovation and research that inform policies aimed at achieving zero harm through competence. This is the impact we stand for not numbers on a report, but measurable, life-changing results.
Let us make today count. Let this workshop and focus group sessions be remembered as the moment when the mining and minerals sector united government, employers, labour, academia, and professional bodies to redefine competence and recommit to safety. Let us remember that every life saved through skills development is a victory for the entire sector. Let us lead with integrity, innovate with courage, and collaborate with conviction. The MQA stands ready to support, to enable, and to be held accountable for driving a safer, more skilled, and impactful industry.
Thank you to the CRESTT Chairperson, the Task Team, for convening this forum; to our COO who will shortly frame the MQA perspective on the challenges and opportunities we face; and to our stakeholders who will present across the morning and early afternoon. We appreciate the contributions from regulators, associations, employers, organised labour, higher education institutions, and candidates the full ecosystem we need to succeed.
Together, we will build a mining sector that reflects the true wealth of our nation its people, their competence, and their courage to do better.
Thank you.