The Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) sits at the centre of two of South Africa’s most urgent challenges, reliable energy supply and sustainable water management. Without skilled people, neither crisis can be solved.

The labour market faces unique contradictions, South Africa needs thousands of artisans, technicians, and engineers to support renewable energy projects, grid modernisation, and water infrastructure. On the other hand, unemployment among science and engineering graduates is high. This raises the critical question, how can the country better align training pipelines with opportunities in renewable energy, waste management, and water security?

Green technologies present a powerful opportunity, from solar panel installation to water recycling innovations, these fields could absorb thousands of unemployed youth if training and financing are accessible. The question is whether South Africa can invest at the right scale to unlock this potential.

Retrenchments in traditional energy and water utilities also create uncertainty. Workers in coal-fired plants, for example, face a future of declining demand. How can they be reskilled for employment in renewables, efficiency programmes, or community-level water management? The just transition must be more than rhetoric, it must translate into real pathways for affected workers.

EWSETA’s mandate, backed by the skills levy, is to prepare South Africans for precisely this shift. If it succeeds, the sector could become one of the country’s engines of employment growth. Career Indaba® Times holds that the energy and water transition must be both sustainable and inclusive because the future of South Africa depends on it.