Government`s plan to attract 2 500 ICT professionals into the country to alleviate the skills shortage seems to have disappeared into obscurity at departmental level.
In February, government released a 'quota` list defining skills that were absent from SA`s workforce. These 23 000 positions included 1 000 silicon and microchip developers and 1 500 software developers.
A recruitment specialist with People Futures says - since the launch of the initiative in February - SA`s skills shortage is worsening. "There is definitely more of a shortage."
However, she says this is a result of "IT moving in fast forward".
Despite the increasing need for skills, skilled foreigners are finding it extremely difficult to get into the country, leading to the creation of specialist labour brokers who apply for work permits on such individuals` behalves and then 'sub-contract` them out.
Moreover, xenophobia means these highly skilled people can often not be placed. Indians, for example, are shunned because of their accents, she says.
The Information Systems, Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority chairman Lucky Masilela says government`s skills importation initiative is "almost like a gap filler".
He does not expect to see results from this initiative for at least another year.
Entrance denied?
Government`s aim - under the auspices of the Departments of Home Affairs and Trade and Industry - was to streamline entry into the country for people with such skills sets. To do so, it announced that people who met its criteria would be able to apply for a quota work permit.
These permits differ from work permits in that the skilled individual is allowed entry into SA in order to seek work. However, Home Affairs does not seem to know how this programme is going.
Head of communications Nkosana Sibuyi says the department`s function is merely to create an "enabling environment" and those individuals with scarce skills would have to go through the process of applying for a work permit, like other work seekers.
A company that wishes to hire a foreign national must apply for a work permit, and Sibuyi says this is the process a skilled foreign national would have to follow.
He says while the department does not separate applications for entry based on scare skills from other applications, such applications are "given the priority required".
Sibuyi states there is "no reason why [Home Affairs] should pass a separate law for scarce skills" as such individuals would be treated in accordance with the relevant sections of the Immigration Amendment Act.
He adds that the department cannot be seen to give priority to foreign nationals. The Department of Trade and Industry was not immediately available for comment.
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