South Africa’s manufacturing and engineering sector is guided by MERSETA, critical to economic growth and industrial competitiveness. MERSETA’s mandate is to ensure that engineering, metalworking, automotive, and related services industries have the skilled workforce required to compete in an era of automation, innovation, and global trade. They use the skills levy to invest in artisans, engineers, and technicians. MERSETA aligns its work with the National Skills Development Plan 2030, which prioritises inclusive pathways for youth, women, and displaced workers.

Manufacturing is undergoing massive transformation. Automation and advanced technologies are reducing demand for traditional manual roles while creating new opportunities in robotics, advanced engineering, and green technologies. This shift sparks an urgent question, with automation reshaping factories, how can South Africa reskill workers to transition into advanced manufacturing and engineering roles? The answer lies in scaling partnerships with TVET colleges, industry training hubs, and workplace-based learning programmes that focus on future-facing skills rather than outdated trades.

The youth unemployment crisis intersects sharply with this sector. South Africa desperately needs more artisans, welders, fitters, toolmakers, and engineering technicians. This underscores a second question, what partnerships between industry and TVET colleges can reduce youth unemployment in artisan and technical fields? Work-integrated learning, funded apprenticeships, and employer-led training pipelines are critical in bridging the gap between classrooms and factory floors.

Retrenchments remain a hard reality in industries such as textiles, steel, and mining-related manufacturing. As global competitiveness declines in these areas, jobs are being lost at a rapid pace. This brings us to the third question; how can retrenchments in declining industries be mitigated by redeployment into renewable energy, automotive innovation, or green technologies? South Africa’s transition to green energy and electric vehicles presents real opportunities but only if affected workers are reskilled in time.

Manufacturers like Volkswagen South Africa, ArcelorMittal, and Sasol illustrate the crossroads. Traditional production models are under pressure, innovation is creating entirely new areas of demand. The role of MERSETA is to ensure that this transition does not leave thousands behind, but instead channels them into industries of the future.

Manufacturing can become a foundation for inclusive industrialisation by aligning people with the right skills, apprenticeships, and redeployment strategies, South Africa can avoid job loss becoming permanent unemployment  and instead build a skilled workforce that thrives in the factories of tomorrow.