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Pretoria - Leaders of South Africa's 70 largest business firms have vowed to make skills development a priority in their companies, along with their finances and customer care.
Bobby Godsell of Business Leadership SA (BLSA) said on Thursday that human resources had for a long time been seen as a "soft area" of business management.
"It is quite clear we cannot sustain growth at the levels we want unless we have a radically reskilled nation," he said.
BSLA made the commitment at a meeting with Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in Pretoria on the country's Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) programme.
"This has gone from the back of their (chief executives and chairpersons) heads to the front of their heads. It is a top order priority. It is up there with every other aspect of running the company effectively," Godsell said.
Companies would ensure there was an "adequate pipeline of skills" under development. Company skills resources would be made available for those outside the company and companies would strengthen their relationships with educational institutions.
During the first half of next year companies would identify specific activities, technical and non-technical, for development of their employees.
Mlambo-Ngcuka welcomed the development.
"We were looking forward to this day because we always understood that the only time that the skills revolution would intensify in earnest is when the private sector at the highest level raises skills development as a strategic challenge," she said.
BLSA is a chief executive chairperson level business organisation whose members comprise the largest JSE-listed companies and the top multinational investors.
- Sapa