Employers who recruit people through the Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) but who do not empower them have been strongly criticised.

Employers who recruit people through the Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) but who do not empower them have been strongly criticised.

The principal officer of the Financial Sector Charter Council, Enoch Godongwana, said many companies were taking on trainees only to get points for their charters and not to empower them.

He accused companies of making trainees do menial jobs.

Godongwana was speaking at the recent graduation ceremony of the Workers' Academy of Insurance. The programme is supervised by the insurance Seta.

Godongwana also made a scathing attack on the financial services sector for not doing enough for skills development.

He said that though the financial sector charter was a voluntary initiative drawn up by the industry, there were many companies that were not meeting the targets set in the skills development charter.

Godongwana pinpointed the 15percent of the payroll that the charter required companies to spend on skills development. He said companies in the sector had, on average, spent only 1,2 percent over the last three years on skills development.

Shirley Steenkamp, of the insurance Seta, said that though there had been a great deal of training for managers and executives in the sector, very few black executives and managers had been trained.

Both speakers commended the Workers' Academy of Insurance for being a true agent of transformation in the insurance sector.