FITPA - Forestry South Africa

1
Volume 3, Issue 3
May 2012
Updates
FITPA Executive Committee
FITPA subscribed 2012 Members
Obituary
Chairperson: Pamela Naidoo
1. Aquila
Innocent Dube
0827390948
2. College for Machine Operations
pamzmail@vodamail.co.za
Treasurer/Secretary: Ashley Diack
033 569 1578
kwamahlati@absamail.co.za
3. F&A Technology
4. FFA Training
5. FSA
6. Jabe Consulting
It is with great sadness that we
inform our members that Innocent
Dube from Umbuso Training
Services passed away in March this
year.
KZN Rep: James Ballantyne
079 516 1261
jabe@absamail.co.za
Mpumalanga/Limpopo Rep: Jeff
Viljoen
013 7542700 X 3084
jeff@klf.co.za
Western/Eastern Cape Rep:
Martin Stander
0824582636
mstander@pgbison.co.za
Administrative Support
7. KLF
8. Kwamahlati
9. LESH
10. Lottenburg Edufarm
11. Mondi
12. New Africa Skills Development
13. PG Bison
14. Practical Solutions
15. SAPPI
16. SAFCA
17. South African Forestry Training
College
Innocent will be greatly missed in
the forestry industry.
He was regarded as an excellent
Trainer in courses in Fire
Protection.
Umbuso Training
Services is now managed by
Samantha Mkhize.
Nicky Naidoo
18. Silvipro
Email her at safcaadmin@lantic.net
19. Stihl
THANK YOU FOR CHOSING TO BE PART
OF THIS ASSOCIATION
PROFILE OF A PROVIDER
F & A TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRIZES C.C.
The company is run by Trent Milne and is based in Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape and started as a Forestry Contracting operation
by doing Plantation Maintenance in forestry areas in December 1997 until the end of 2000. Water Hyacinth was sprayed on
rivers and dams and various Herbicides and water retaining polymers were stocked and distributed during this period. Towards
the end of this time operations moved into training of staff and Consulting in Forestry and related fields due to our vast experience
and knowledge in this Industry. Training is conducted throughout South Africa. We have specialised in Silviculture and in
particular Weed Control.
The company has been involved with training and assessments of Working For Water projects throughout the country since
May 2000.We are involved with numerous Alien Plant Eradication Projects, Forestry Companies, Agriculture entities and Conservation
organisations throughout the country. We also do Environmental Work Plans, Assessments of Projects, operations and
Activity sampling. The Environmental Work Plans consist of Mapping, so as to establish work boundaries and unit sizes
(areas), whereby species are identified, densities are determined and work standards are attached. Recommendations are made
and relevant Training is undertaken after which implementation takes place.
Trent can be contacted on 0833145531 or by e-mail: trent@hazeldean.co.za
Inside this issue:
Updates
Profile of a Provider
Special Points of Interest
News from the FPM SETA
Review of OFO Codes version 12
Letter to the Editor
Special points of interest:
News from the FPM SETA
Review of the OFO Codes version
12
Komatiland helps train Foresters
Komatiland helps to train Foresters

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P O Box 11770
DORSPRUIT
3206
Phone: 033 3947207
Fax: 033 3947207
E-mail: safcaadmin@lantic.net
USEFUL TIP
Check the poster in the
April edition of the SA
Forestry Magazine for a
poster on Safety First
which can be used as a
visual aid for Chainsaw
training. The Poster is in
English and isiZulu.
Open Season for Workplace Skills Planning
As many of you will know, April to June is the annual Workplace Skills Planning Season – that
time of year when firms plan their skills development activities for the new training year and
report on all the skills development interventions that they have engaged on during the previous
year.
Workplace place skills plans and annual training reports are due for submission on 30 June 2012
by all firms that are eligible to pay skills development levies. The submission serves as an application
for mandatory grants which could result in the firm receiving back up to 50% of their
levies paid during the corresponding period.
Apart from making good business sense from a financial point of view, workplace skills planning
also provides an annual opportunity to firms to take stock of the skills capacity of their most
important resource – its employees.
The workplace skills planning process allows firms to analyse available skills, to identify skills
shortages and to identify skills development interventions to address the skills gaps within the
firm. These interventions could include internal training (e.g. learnerships, apprenticeships and
other skills programmes) or external training (e.g. certificate, diploma or decree courses offered
by public and private Further and Higher Education Institutions).
Annual reporting on training interventions implemented and the impact thereof on the firm’s
performance, further provide valuable information to employers to increase productivity and
efficiencies in their production facilities.
But to achieve this, there must be buy in from all the roleplayers in the firm - therefore, workplace
skills planning should be a two-way process where employers and employees are given the
opportunity to participate in the planning process.
Workplace skills plans and annual reports are important sources of information for the FP&M
SETA as they assist the SETA to identify the scarce and critical skills needs of the sub-sectors
within the fibre processing and manufacturing sector. The scarce and critical skills list forms the
basis for sector skills planning, including the development of sector skills development strategies
to address identified skills gaps within the sector.
For further information on the workplace skills planning process for 2012/13, visit our website:
www.fpmseta.org.za or contact us as follows: Johannesburg – 011-2342311, Durban – 031-
7024482, Cape Town – 021-4473373.
REVIEW OF OFO CODES VERSION 12
A working group of forestry industry stakeholders led by the FPM SETA met on the 27 and 28 February 2012 to review OFO
Codes Version 12. Whilst the attendance to this workshop was tremendously poor, the few individuals that did attend were
able to give input into this version of the codes. FITPA also emailed these codes to all our members for their information as
well as the opportunity to comment. Thank you to Michal Brink who gave input on the forestry sector codes specifically
related to road building and maintenance.
If you have not received a copy of these codes and would be interested in reviewing the work done, contact Nicky Naidoo in
this regard (safccadmin@lantic.net) or Lenny Paltu from the FPM SETA (lennyp@fpmseta.org.za).
FITPA is committed to sharing information that is of relevance to all its members.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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Training: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
My experience of 30 years in Forestry and the training environment has resulted in having completed not appreciation courses
but full duration courses like Chainsaw Operator (15 days), Skidder at TIMS and other every training course that my future
Training Centre had to produce. Most of you will remember the days when companies had their own training centers, like
Platorand, Concordia, Bainsfield, TIMS at Sabie, Sappi at Ngodwana, Mondi at Sabie, HL&H at Piet Retief and so on.
Today like the rest of Forestry, training also has changed tremendously. Most Timber Growers have outsourced many of their
functions, including training. The Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 and the introduction of the SETA’s have changed our lives
forever having to be accredited with a SETA being a mandatory requirement. There is also more emphasis on the instructors.
In an attempt to ensure quality of training provision, Mondi and Sappi designed a training matrix as instrument that would
guide the contractor and the provider to the minimum standards for duration of training and intervals of refresher training, as
well as the maximum number of students per intervention. The matrix became the regulator of training and what was intended
as the minimum standard became the only and maximum standard. It is concerning that there are not enough standards in
the forestry industry.
What is the status today?
On 5 March 2012 SAFCA together with Sappi, Mondi and training providers have made input and suggestions for a more
realistic time span for training assessments and refresher training. Thank you SAFCA, Sappi and Mondi and we look forward
to our recommendations being implemented.
A future full of challenges
Mechanization is most probably the training provider’s biggest nightmare. As machines replace 10 or more workers, the
number of operators to train reduces and consequently the trainers to a level where it cannot support a provider any more. To
earn and maintain a positive reputation on quality training in Forestry, we will have to liaise and fight for our position as a
group (not individually) more than ever.
We will need FITPA more and more, not as an association based on members who pay, but members who play. Together we
must transform FITPA into an association that guides our common code of conduct. It must create its own standards, perhaps
in form of a training matrix. This will guide us all when we train institutions that don’t have their own standards. The training
provider who adheres to the FITPA Vision, Mission, Code of Conduct and standards, is a proud member of FITPA. The provider
who neglects this code of conduct, is excluded from membership.
If we say FITPA is doing nothing for me, four fingers are pointing back at me. You will always get what you always got, if you
always do what you always did.
Let’s think of transforming FITPA into the association we want and need by sending new ideas to the executive committee.
Regards
Lukas Hogewind , Aquila Training CC
KOMATILAND HELPS TO TRAIN FUTURE FORESTERS
Approximately ten years ago, Komatiland Forests (KLF), a subsidiary of SAFCOL, began to address the issue of scarce and critical skills shortages
within the Forestry industry. A programme was introduced to give potential Forestry and Wood Technology learners a head start before they enrol
for their formal studies. The initiative started as a Forestry Bridging Programme (FBP), which entailed the intake of between 15 and 20 learners for
a 12–month period, during which they would complete a number of forestry-related short skills programmes. These included silviculture,
harvesting, fire fighting, environmental awareness and basic safety courses.
Since then, the FBP has made way for a full Learnership offered to learners in the form of the FP & M SETA accredited General Education and
Training Certificate: Forestry. Learners who successfully complete the GETC are awarded bursaries by the Company, if funds are available, to
enrol for formal Forestry studies at Saasveld or Stellenbosch University. Special focus is placed on learners from previously disadvantaged
communities and specifically on women.
To date, over 100 learners have successfully completed the programme since its inception, 64 of whom went on to pursue formal Forestry studies.
Statistics prove that these students fair better in their studies because of the year that they have spent at KLF’s Platorand Training Centre. With
additional support of Discretionary Grants from the FP & M SETA over the years, the GETC has become a programme that attracts a lot of interest
every year and KLF hopes to continue with this initiative for many years to come.