OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS UPDATE

OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS UPDATE

• 15 June 2026
• Education & Training
• SA Legal Academy

Please note: 1) Shortly after close of business on 17 June 2026, two ministerial directives were gazetted. One reflects an amendment to the 2021 Occupational Qualifications Sub-
Framework Policy’s clause 23(8). The other provides further ‘transitional arrangements for identified pre-2009 qualifications, trades and regulatory unit standards ... critical to national skills development priorities’. Stakeholders are referred to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) website for the lists of affected pre-2009 qualifications. However, at the time of writing they were not yet available. 2) On 18 June 2026, the lists were published on the SAQA website.

Documents listing ‘legacy’ pre-2009 qualifications requiring ‘targeted extensions’ of between six to twenty-four months have not yet been gazetted. This is in the context of an ongoing transition to occupational qualifications affecting:

• learners
• training providers
• employers
• sectoral education and training authorities (SETAs), and
• institutions across the post-school education and training system.

According to a media statement recently issued by Higher Education & Training Minister Buti Manamela, the documents concerned were expected to be published on 15 June 2026.

They have particular implications for:

• learners working towards national accredited technical education certificates and diplomas, including N4 to N6 qualifications
• regulatory unit standards underpinning ‘important statutory and industry programmes’
• trades, and
• work-integrated learning programmes where students have completed the theoretical component of their training.

The duration of a ‘targeted extension’ will depend on:

• sector readiness
• learner impact
• ‘replacement qualification availability’, and
• labour market requirements.

The Minister has described the transition as ‘one of the most significant reforms in South Africa’s post-school education and training landscape’ – giving effect to a June 2024 ministerial directive.

Among other things, the yet-to-be-published arrangements are expected to:

• ‘accelerate the development and implementation of occupational qualifications’
• ‘improve alignment between education, training and labour market needs’
• ‘reinforce accountability among SETAs, quality councils and other implementing bodies’, and
• ‘strengthen the responsiveness, quality and credibility of qualifications within the post-school education and training system’.

Please click the links below for more information:

• media statement
• June 2024 directive

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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