During his tenure as CEO of the Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta), Malusi Shezi has overseen a remarkable turnaround in the organisation’s performance, raising its achievement rate against its annual performance plans to 98%.
Shezi took an institution at its lowest, where it was achieving 22% of its targets and with dwindling levies revenue below R380-million, to R798-million in 2024/25.
Most stakeholders were unhappy before Shezi started his tenure. Some had left Ceta for other setas, but this was transformed to a point where the confidence of stakeholders was restored.
Payment processes were streamlined and improved, resulting in no more learner strikes at Ceta premises because of unpaid stipends. Complaints from service providers for long unpaid invoices were also reduced.
Ceta staff at all levels were afforded learning and development opportunities previously reserved for management alone. To date, many have obtained Master’s qualifications and are still growing their capabilities through various interventions.
A competent and suitably experienced management team was put in place. The challenges that plagued the Ceta were addressed to ensure the work environment is worker-centric, agile and fosters high performance.
A clean-up of the rot that crippled the Ceta before 2020 was undertaken, holding accountable those involved in corrupt activities. It is, however, a continuing journey to achieve clean governance and administration, said Shezi.
Under Shezi’s leadership, processes were instituted to set aside irregular awards and to recover monies owed to the Ceta emanating from reported material irregularities of the past, and wastage was eliminated.
As he reflects on Ceta’s progress under his leadership over the years, Shezi, who took over as CEO in September 2021, has stressed the need to continue building on the momentum to prioritise digitisation of learning programmes, embedding technologies like Build Information Modelling, sustainable stakeholder engagements.
He emphasised the need to continue with effective learning programmes monitoring and evaluation, while maintaining a strong focus on clean governance and international collaboration for a skilled, economically sustainable and competitive construction sector.
“We are responsible to ensure that the construction sector and the built environment has the necessary capacity and skills needed for it to be able to thrive and contribute to the economic growth of this country,” said Shezi.
Shezi said that for Ceta to continue achieving its goals – and beyond – it needs to “strengthen the stakeholder-centric model across the organisation, ensuring that all officials are responsive to the needs of the sector and are agile”.
“Programmes and projects must be managed effectively, with training providers starting programmes on time. There must be regular and effective monitoring and evaluation of all programmes, so that any problems or challenges can be identified and addressed early – rather than only at the final moderation stage,” he said.
He said that investment must be made into the digitalisation of learning programmes and in the adoption of technology and innovation, so that the construction sector can “catch up” with international standards.
Partnerships with industry bodies and other countries with leading and competitive construction sectors, such as China, Singapore and Germany, must also be expanded upon and nurtured, he said, to incorporate advanced innovation and technology into Ceta learning programmes.
In response to the call to professionalise the State, the Ceta collaborated with the Council for the Built Environment in terms of its MOU signed in 2019. This was to celebrate those who have come through the ranks to be PR-ed by different councils within the CBE – a road to ensure all practitioners in the construction industry are registered and bound by professional codes of ethics.
This ensures accountability and avoids situations like the George building collapse and the Tongaat mall collapse, which posed serious health and safety threats.
“Effective administration, clean governance, and a zero-tolerance approach to corruption must be maintained and adopted, including making the best use of limited resources for maximum impact,” said Shezi.
Ceta is unequivocally transformation oriented, he said. When a discretionary grant is awarded for training or learning opportunities, Ceta prescribe that more than 55% of beneficiaries should be youth, women and people with disabilities.
“And then, if we have awarded an entity that is woman-owned, the target moves to be 60%, in that they must make sure that there is an empowerment of women in this country,” he said.
When awarding learning or training opportunities to any entity, they must demonstrate that there is a practical workplace where the learners, after they have been trained in theory, will be exposed, Shezi said.
The requirement for skills development in South Africa is that the people on the seta learning programmes must receive 30% of their training in the classroom, and the remaining 70% must be dedicated to in-workplace training.
Shezi said that to ensure a transformed construction sector, Ceta is contributing to broadening the pool of future business leaders through the International Executive Development Programme (IEDP) for women and up-coming executives, which is implemented by GIBS.
The inaugural programme had 60 participants and ensured 60% of the beneficiaries were women.
The 2024/25 cohort of the IEDP had 100% throughput, with the top student at the recent University of Pretoria graduations coming from the Ceta funded programme.
The recent cohort of 2025 had 120, as per approval of the previous board.
These are programmes many would not have had the opportunity to be empowered with.
The beneficiaries have been on immersions to Egypt, Turkiye, Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, with the rest still to be exposed to Brazil, Chile, etc.
“This has gone a long way in repositioning the beneficiaries for a winning built environment as they come and apply the learnings from those immersions,” said Shezi.
Another key achievement during Shezi’s term was the digitisation of the career guidance promoting construction and built environment as a career of choice amongst youth, and specifically young women from underprivileged areas.
A Careers for Tomorrow’s Impact programme was launched by the now Minister of Higher Education & Training Buti Manamela in October 2024.
This digitises career guidance information, making it accessible to young people no matter where they are. It also includes career information in various official languages of South Africa.
The programme was able to reach more than 12 000 learners across South Africa within six months of the launch, via the support of the implementer, Yalina and Youth Start Foundation.
The “Curious Dalu” movie is viewable on the career portal launched through this initiative (www.cetacareers.org.za).
Curious Dalu showcases a young girl from a township background who rises against all odds and becomes a leader in a multinational construction firm, demonstrating that the sky is not the limit for women to actively grow in the male dominated construction sector.
About 250 career guidance practitioners were empowered to guide learners with relevant and accurate information to take careers in this sector. Many opportunities for industry players, including bursaries, will be showcased on this platform in the near future.
Shezi said that because South Africa does not have a sufficient pool of artisans, it is worth noting that those who go through apprenticeships find full-time or permanent work quicker than those who go through learnerships and short skills programmes.
“By nature, short skills programmes are more suited for somebody who already has some sort of base and is employed, so they are enhancing or reskilling or upskilling themselves.”
The construction sector has a potential to assist youth with skills that can dent unemployment levels to its lowest, he said. Ceta currently has over 1 200 learners on its system annually, he added.
It was “a myth”, he said, that the learnership programmes were not of a high standard and are divorced from the practical workplaces.
“Whatever learning programmes we have are verified and quality assured by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations and aligned to the South African Qualifications Authority’s national qualifications framework.
Shezi said the public perception needs to change if South Africa is to address the crisis of the NEET (Not in Employment, Education and Training).
The myth that seta programmes are inferior need to change as well.
Seta programmes are also free, as they are funded by industry levies. These programmes give opportunities and hope to those who may be despondent. They bring about dignity through skills.
This means South Africans can obtain accredited and globally recognised qualifications as high as NQF 6s and Occupational Qualifications through seta-funded learning programmes, given that varsities and TVETs have space capacity challenges.
Ceta also offers bursaries for those who want to pursue the field of construction and built environment disciplines, and specifically for those who will be pursuing qualifications for designated scarce and
critical skills. Ceta support candidacy programmes to ensure more professionals are produced for the industry.
Ceta offers a full bursary that covers tuition, accommodation and other support from undergraduate studies to a PhD level, also with a strong focus on women. “Every year we have more than 400 bursars on our system,” said Shezi.
He said the same principle applies to the unemployed youth, and more than 50% of those bursars are always women.
As for follow-up to ensure training is ongoing and quality-driven, Shezi said programme monitoring and evaluation visits are done on a quarterly basis, while implementation teams meet on a monthly basis to track progress and identify potential challenges in all awarded training programmes.
Equitable distribution of skills development opportunities matters.
Through the Ceta ERRP programme, underserved areas and provinces are afforded the opportunity to advance their local economies through skills implemented by partner provincial departments, local government and Traditional Councils.
For the past three years, Ceta has benefited more than 12 800 beneficiaries through ERRP since 2021, with more than R400-million invested in this regard, including more than R230-million in stipends.
This ERRP programme has played a critical role in the delivery of training and skills development programmes for the construction sector, including support to Centres of Excellence in TVETs.
The targeted entities had no or very limited knowledge and appetite for skills development. Today, these entities now entrench skills development agendas in their own plans.
Shezi said that state of the art smart skills infrastructure facilities are being constructed in different provinces to bring skills development to all corners of South Africa, ensuring continuing developing of skills in serving society is impactful.
Shezi said that this approach ensures regional and provincial representation and recognises the important role traditional councils have in skilling and empowering citizens at the local level.
The Ceta also plays a strategic role by providing relevant skills development within the sector to ensure the successful implementation of the more than R900-billion infrastructure built programme of SA.
