Progressive Business Forum

Progressive Business Forum Business group Progressive Business Forum (PBF) formed in 2006 to create ongoing dialogue The PBF is the locus of the social compact with Business.

The PBF is a programme of the ANC, mandated to promote and enhance liaison between Government, the ANC and Business. It functions under the auspices of the Office of the ANC Treasurer General. In the words of President Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address on 13 February 2020: “Let us frankly admit that the government cannot solve our economic challenges alone”. The PBF is gearing to be the

facilitator of best practice communication and to ensure that the voice of business is heard and understood at the highest levels. The compact between Government and Business is a powerful and significant one. Business, with its unparalleled ability to generate jobs, opportunities and income, partnering and in dialogue with the solid and sound economic policies of Government, present an opportunity for PBF subscribers to engage the economy on an upward path of inclusive growth.

Progressive Business Forum (PBF) Group CEO, Ms Onicca Kwakwa and Executive Board Member, Dr Tim Tebeila are in China for...
15/05/2026

Progressive Business Forum (PBF) Group CEO, Ms Onicca Kwakwa and Executive Board Member, Dr Tim Tebeila are in China for an exchange programme to partner with businesses that can assist, train and empower business in South Africa to take industries forward.

It is the workers’ of our country who drive our economy, who produce our goods, who provide our services, who create our...
01/05/2026

It is the workers’ of our country who drive our economy, who produce our goods, who provide our services, who create our nation’s wealth. As a society, we have a responsibility to ensure that workers are properly recognized and rewarded for the vital contribution they make. We need to ensure that the rights of workers are protected and strengthened. We wish all workers everywhere in our country, in Africa and the world, a revolutionary May Day.

Happy Freedom Day South Africa! May all our children and youth thrive to co-create better futures; May all men and women...
27/04/2026

Happy Freedom Day South Africa!
May all our children and youth thrive to co-create better futures;
May all men and women honor all freedom fighters and build a shared prosperity;
May our Freedom contribute to lasting World Peace and Justice.

Thank you to all our stakeholders, partners, and participants for making the Dialogue on Skills for Inclusive Economic G...
25/04/2026

Thank you to all our stakeholders, partners, and participants for making the Dialogue on Skills for Inclusive Economic Growth a success.

Your contributions and insights are helping shape a responsive skills ecosystem, one that aligns education and training with industry needs, unlocks opportunities for youth, and drives inclusive economic growth.

Thank you to all our stakeholders, partners, and participants for making the Dialogue on Skills for Inclusive Economic G...
24/04/2026

Thank you to all our stakeholders, partners, and participants for making the Dialogue on Skills for Inclusive Economic Growth a success.

Your contributions and insights are helping shape a responsive skills ecosystem, one that aligns education and training with industry needs, unlocks opportunities for youth, and drives inclusive economic growth.


Panel 2 Ms Zama Mthombeni “ That is why I am sometimes seen as an academic rebel because I don’t conform to the structur...
24/04/2026

Panel 2
Ms Zama Mthombeni

“ That is why I am sometimes seen as an academic rebel because I don’t conform to the structures of what we have currently in universities. You come to my lectures, I do not have a textbook that I prescribe. Specifically with most textbooks do not keep up with what is happening in history. Most textbooks are from the year 2000. They are not going to tell you what does it mean to be a prompt engineer. Beyond the fact that sometimes I like to identify with my students, they are not fortunate and the textbooks are expensive. So I always like to use up-to-date material. So coming back to that conversation, it becomes problematic when you have an academic who is not living in the industry. So when I, before UJ, I was with the University of Pretoria and I was there to teach people who were going to be public sector in the public sector, who were doing public management. One of the things that I see that it is also a shock that we are producing graduates who do not know what a monitoring dashboard looks like, who do not know what the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation does, who do not know what are the processes of being part of the integrated development plan. These are all processes that as a public administrator you need to know. But they do not know those things because when teaching from textbooks, where they have to speak about the evolution of public administration, that’s the core, that’s the foundation. But when you walk into a municipality... You do not even know the face. You have not even seen an annual report. You’ve not even gone and attended an event. But you’re a public administrator in training. So what I always say that we have to be in touch and in tune. “

“ I always say that I could have a PhD, but if I lack soft skills, such as communication skills, the ability to be clear in my communication, the ability to lead, I will always be overturned by a person who is not qualified, but a person who is able to have that posture and a person who is confident”


Panel 2 Mr Hudson Masondo “In my history as well in program management, which I started this journey in the year 2013. T...
24/04/2026

Panel 2
Mr Hudson Masondo

“In my history as well in program management, which I started this journey in the year 2013. There was a big project that came, you know, in 2010 through Minister of Van Schalkwyk after the World Cup. This program came after the realisation that we do not have enough chef skills in the country. We hosted a lot of people from all over the world. That’s how the baby was born, NYCTP National Youth Chefs Training Program. Why am I talking about this program? Because it was initiated between the government sector, skills development providers, and a professional body, which is the South African Chefs Association. In that, the industry had to have buy-in. How did we actually get the buy-in from the industry? The program was a block release program. Which a learner literally, if they have to do their three-year in the program, they would do one day in a week, one day at the skills development provider, four days in the industry. So working with the chef, being led and guided by the chef. So the process happened, and what we have learned when I came in in 2013, I came in as a recruitment specialist, which my responsibility was to actually align these graduates now every day from 2011 into the industry in terms of employment. We realized that they could not serve themselves, but in the process, they have got the skill. So we had to actually speak to the industry and say, instead of having these, you know, interviews, rather get them into the kitchen and get them to cook, and then evaluate their skills from there”


Panel 2Mr Nkateko Tim Baloyi“We are in the learnership space, so we use learnerships as a vehicle that takes graduates i...
24/04/2026

Panel 2
Mr Nkateko Tim Baloyi

“We are in the learnership space, so we use learnerships as a vehicle that takes graduates into meaningful jobs. So we partner with energy experts like your different banks, financial institutions, and then what we do there is we look at the gaps that they have in the ICT space, mostly technology, the data science, AI, analytical skills, and that’s what we build on. So when it speaks to credibility, what we do is we have these graduates that have the extended undergrad qualification. We have them for a specific period in the classroom, and we do this on an online basis. So we target these individuals that are taking different corners of the country, and then once they’ve got in the classroom training, we then place them for the work integrated learning. That’s where the credibility comes in. We take your undergrad qualification, merge it with the learnership learning classroom, then we take you to the classroom component, you get your practicals, and that is where companies get to interview individuals for a period of like 12 months before deciding that they’ll load these individuals into permanent employment.”


Panel 2Mr Sabelo Buthelezi“Coming back to the work of the department, there are a number of initiatives that are being i...
24/04/2026

Panel 2

Mr Sabelo Buthelezi

“Coming back to the work of the department, there are a number of initiatives that are being implemented. Starting back on the decade of artisans, which positioned TVET colleges as institutions of choice for school leavers. And some of the programs, like the Minister has mentioned, the centers of specialization where we are getting the industry to be in the forefront of delivering the dual apprenticeship at TVET colleges, where learners are firstly recruited, like myself and Mr. Morotoba was here, were recruited by the industry and taken through the TVET colleges before we then engage the issue of our knowledge learning. But one thing that I have always mentioned, by design, TVET colleges were not meant to produce artisans in particular by themselves. Always they needed the industry, and industry will recruit and help the training center and help TVET colleges only providing the knowledge component. Now we are changing that so that we are also encroaching the space that was for the industry in terms of preparing workshops that are responsive to the industry.”

“As an institution, we are looking on a strategy that will turn them around into institutions of choice, so that we change a misnomer where 75% of learners goes to university. So we want a situate that there’s a turnaround, there’s a inverted pyramid, so that majority of school leavers start at the Tivet College. It’s not a safety net for those that cannot access university, but it should be an institution of first choice, that from school and they are saying, I’m going to be an artisan or I’m going to be a chef or this is the occupation that I’m going to do at a TVET College.”


Panel Discussion: Moderator - Ms Nompemdulo Mkhatshwa Mr Hudson Masondo: South African Chefs AssociationMr Sabelo Buthel...
24/04/2026

Panel Discussion:
Moderator - Ms Nompemdulo Mkhatshwa

Mr Hudson Masondo: South African Chefs Association
Mr Sabelo Buthelezi
Mr Tim Baloyi: Head of Academy: Mindworx Consulting
Prof Zama Mthombeni: Associate Professor: University of Johannesburg

● Industry expectations versus graduate outcomes:
● TVET, universities, and workplace learning:
● Strengthening work-integrated learning, apprenticeships, and internships:
● Industry and Academia Collaboration in designing the curriculum:



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Block C, 50 Sixth Road, Hyde Park
Johannesburg
2196

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Monday 08:30 - 16:30
Tuesday 08:30 - 16:30
Wednesday 08:30 - 16:30
Thursday 08:30 - 16:30
Friday 08:30 - 16:30

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0214876121

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