Abstract:
Despite job-related education, training and development for black South Africans having existed since the 19th century at the mission schools, not much was done to promote African artisans in the townships, The concern of the Smuts government about juvenile delinquency in the townships was the reason why local authorities decided to promote black upliftment for urban Africans. The belief that African youths would not resort to crime if they were occupied resulted in the establishment in 1942 of the Orlando Vocational Training Centre outside Johannesburg. <br><br> The National Party government showed little interest in this development prior to the 1966 assassination of prime minister Dr H F Verwoerd, but nevertheless the Centre prospered under the principalship of the late G Tabor. The situation changed when the NP government realised that more Africans were needed to be trained to enable them to fill the vacancies in the industries. The Centre was purchased by the Department of Education and Training in 1975, but the Department struggled to address the new emerging challenge and by 1990 job-related education, training and development in Soweto had still not been properly established.
