PSETA is established in terms of section 9(1) and (2) of theSkills Development Act (Act No. 97 of 1998 as amended).The Skills Development Act is our enabling legislation and
guides our operations as a sector education and trainingauthority (SETA), as set out in section 10 of the Act.
PSETA’s overarching strategic imperative is building theskills required for a capable, skilled and developmentalstate. The scope of coverage includes national andprovincial governments departments, identified publicentities, Parliament and provincial legislatures. The focusand emphasis of the PSETA is primarily on transversalskills, i.e. functions of administration, management,planning legislation, policy administration, monitoringand evaluation. PSETA shares the responsibility of humanresource development in the public service with theDepartment of Public Service and Administration (DPSA),as a policy department that issues directives on humanresource development across the public service; andwith state and sector academies – including the NationalSchool of Government (NSG) – that provide the sectorspecifictraining.
The PSETA sector encompasses approximately 831500 employees (PSETA, 2020), comprised of employeesemployed under the Public Service Act and excludingmedicapractitioners, nurses, teachers, police and themilitary personnel who falls under other Acts (suchas Health Act, Education Act, etc.) and all employeesemployed under the occupation specific dispensation(OSD). Of this total, provincial departments employapproximately 87%, followed by national departmentswith approximately 11%. The legislative and public entities
sub-sector comprise a significantly smaller proportion,
namely 2%. In terms of occupational categories, the majority ofemployees (38.60%) are within the professional workersmajor group, followed by technicians and associateprofessionals at 17.83% of employees. Clerical supportworkers constitute 14.75% of the sector. The category ofmanagers makes up 10.20% of the employees at seniormanagement service level within the public service sector.Demographic data shows that gender distribution in thepublic service sector has remained constant over thepast few years, with more women (approximately 60%)employed than men, across the sector. The proportionof disabled people employed in the sector remains low atapproximately 1.10%.