Opinion: Much More To Be Done In Learning And Development

The customs and freight forwarding industry plays an important role in the supply chain sector, and South Africa is only ranked as the 60 th most competitive nation in the world.

This indicates that there is much more to be done in respect of learning and development and providing the economy with the correct set of skills and capacity required to facilitate international trade and growth. This applies to all sectors of the economy.

The establishment of the Institute for Customs Freight Forwardingwas a concept that came about in 2011.

The industry recognised that it had to take responsibility and ownership of its industry standards for competency and proficiency, as the industry did not have anything structured in place to ensure that our employees were globally competitive.

One also has to bear in mind that many of our employees in this industry have limited or no formal qualifications.

Qualifications were developed over the years through the current skills development bureaucracy, which has since failed to maintain the standards required by the business reality. The current skills development system leaves a lot to be desired, and hence in 2021 the industry employer associations finally established the ICFF through the recognised processes of Saqa South African Qualifications Authority.