Mdladlana urges accounting graduates to empower their communities and not emigrate

Johannesburg, Friday, May 11, 2007 – South Africa had to strive to evolve into a nation skilled enough to find its own solutions, Membathisi Mdladlana, Minister of Labour, said in Johannesburg yesterday.
Addressing a graduation celebration of the first group of Thuthuka students to have completed their BCom Accounting undergraduate studies at the University of Fort Hare, the Minister urged more young people to seek BCom degrees “because their skills are key to the nation's prosperity”.

He encouraged Thuthuka graduates to empower their communities and not move abroad for greener pastures, because South Africa had so much more to offer. He also said that when the international community came to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, BCom graduates would be the brains encouraging investors to embrace Africa.

“You will be the shining beacons instrumental in restoring South Africa's pride.”
The Minister lauded the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund Programme, the aim of which was to ensure that learners from previously disadvantaged backgrounds improved their accountancy, mathematics and literacy skills, and considered the chartered accountancy profession as a career of choice.
“We talk of scarce and critical skills – all because it was believed that black children were not good enough to become architects of their future. We will continue to support the accountancy profession through our interventions.”

More specifically, the Minister emphasised Thuthuka's critical role in accelerating the rate of transformation in the accountancy profession by increasing the number of African chartered accountants.
“I must caution thought that despite this noble progress, we have not yet won the war against skills deficiencies despite waging a ferocious battle over the last five years,” said Mdladlana.

The occasion honoured 69 Thuthuka-supported students for having garnered their BCom Accounting degrees. The full fruits of Thuthuka's endeavours will be witnessed in 2009, when the first groups of Thuthuka students qualify as CAs (SA).

Embellishing on the background to the achievement, Ajen Sita, Chairman of the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund, drew attention to Thuthuka's birth in the Eastern Cape five years ago as “a mechanism to address the shortage of chartered accountants, but in particular black chartered accountants”.

He said that any profession refusing to take part in the country's transformation was blind to potential. “I am proud to say that the chartered accountancy profession sees considerable potential in South Africa. Young people like those we see today are the currency of our economy's future.”

Sita maintained that the accountancy profession was “the developer of our society; that we perform this role by leading through example”. The Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund was the “fuel with which our transformation vehicle moves; the spear or the assegai that allows the profession to fight against the lack of skills development”.

Sita paid tribute to the Department of Labour's National Skills Fund and Fasset, the Seta for finance, accounting, management consulting and other financial services, for their invaluable contributions to Thuthuka.

Looking ahead, he said that Thuthuka was committed to creating a larger pool of learners to pursue careers in the accountancy profession.

Cheryl James, Fasset's CEO, highlighted the extensive scope of Thuthuka's activities by pointing out that in the Gauteng, Eastern Cape KZN and Limpopo provinces, Thuthuka's skills interventions had assisted, and continued to assist:

Over 1 100 BCom Accounting undergraduates from the universities of Fort Hare and Limpopo to continue their careers in chartered accountancy through extra interventions and with the support of the University of Johannesburg;

  • More than 38 000 grade 11 and 12 learners in schools to receive extra tuition in mathematics, accounting, science and English to help prepare them for entry into university programmes in financial accounting and other financial management fields;
  • In excess of 16 000 educators to receive capacity building courses to improve their skills in mathematics, accounting, science and English; and
  • The current crop of 69 graduates represented the vanguard of the 503 students to have been supported by Thuthuka to date.