Manpower Training Act, 1981 (Act No. 56 of 1981) > Chapter 2 : Registrar of Manpower Training, Training Boards, Training of Apprentices and Attainment of Artisan Status > 13. Designation and definition of trades, and conditions of apprenticeship

1)	The Minister may, subject to the provisions of subsection (4) and on the recommendation of the training board concerned, by notice in the Gazette-

a)	designate any trade in an industry as a trade in respect of which the provisions of this Act shall apply in the area specified in the notice;

b)	define such trade by reference to the work performed therein, the operations of which it is composed or the type or class of premises upon which the work or operations are performed.

2)	The Minister may, in the same manner, prescribe -

a)	the qualifications, including the minimum age (which shall not be lower than fifteen years) and educational standard, required for apprenticeship;

b)	the standard of proficiency, including the level of theoretical training and the minimum period of practical training in actual production and maintenance circumstances, which is required before an apprentice is permitted to undergo a trade test;

bA)	the basis on which recognition, in the form of exemption from a specific module or specific modules provided for in the conditions of apprenticeship of the training board concerned and which have already been completed, will be granted -

i)	in the case where a prospective apprentice has attained theoretical or practical experience before entering into a contract of apprenticeship;

ii)	in the case of the rescission of an apprentice’s contract of apprenticeship for any reason whatsoever before attaining the standard of proficiency which is prescribed in terms of paragraph (b) of this subsection;

the rates according to which apprentices shall be remunerated, the circumstances under which those rates may be reduced or shall be increased, the extent of the reduction or increase and the basis of recognition, by means of higher wages, for a first period of training or service in terms of the provisions of the Defence Act, 1957 (Act No. 44 of 1957), or section 34A(11) of the Police Act, 1958 (Act No. 7 of 1958): Provided that no rate based upon the quantity of work performed shall be prescribed: Provided further that the Minister may, before acting in terms of this paragraph, request the wage board established under the Wage Act, 1957 (Act No. 5 of 1957), to submit to him a recommendation;

the classes which apprentices shall attend during their training, the number of days on which, the hours within which and the number of hours during which they shall attend such classes during any week in any year and, subject to the provisions of subsection (11), the number of hours, if any, during which and the circumstances under which apprentices shall be released from work by the employer for the purpose of attending classes on any day;

e)	the nature and number of the correspondence courses to be followed by apprentices in lieu of or in addition to any classes prescribed in terms of paragraph (d) , and the conditions subject to which those courses may be followed in lieu of those classes;

f)	the full-time training courses which apprentices shall attend, the period or periods of the attendance, and the intervals at which those courses shall be attended;

g)	the types of work in which the employer shall provide practical training to apprentices, and the proportion of the working hours during which and the stages during the training at which he shall provide such training in each type of work;

the modular tests, either practical or theoretical or both, as well as trade tests, which apprentices shall undergo, the stage or stages during the training at which such tests shall be undergone, the circumstances in which an apprentice may be exempted from any such test or from any part thereof, the repetition of modules failed and the number of repetitions of modular tests an apprentice will be entitled to in order to continue with his apprenticeship;

i)	the fees payable in respect of any test prescribed in terms of paragraph (h) , and the persons by whom such fees shall be paid;

j)	the circumstances under which employers shall pay the whole or any portion specified in the notice of the fees payable in respect of any classes or courses prescribed under paragraph (d), (e) or (f), or refund to their apprentices the whole or any portion so specified of any such fees paid by them;

k)	the maximum number of ordinary working hours which apprentices may be required or permitted to work during any week or on any day, and the days on which, the hours on any day before or after which and the intervals during which no apprentice may be required or permitted to work;

l)	the maximum period of overtime which apprentices may be required or permitted to work during any period specified in the notice, and the rates according to which they shall be remunerated in respect of overtime;

m)	the number of paid holidays to be allowed to apprentices during any year of their training and the rates according to which they shall be remunerated in respect of such holidays;

the conditions, including the payment of extra remuneration, subject to which an employer may require or permit any apprentice to perform any work outside the area of jurisdiction of the training board in question, or outside any area or class of areas specified in the notice or at a place beyond a distance so from a given point;

o)	the circumstances under which an employer shall pay additional remuneration to any apprentice in his employment and the amount of the additional remuneration or the manner in which it shall be calculated;

p)	the remuneration and other conditions of apprenticeship, in respect of any period during which an apprentice is unable by reason of any condition of apprenticeship or other specified circumstances to render service to his employer during ordinary working hours;

q)	the minimum and maximum number of apprentices to be employed in the industry in question or in any designated trade or by any employer, or in lieu of a specific number, the authority by whom and the methods by which or the principles in accordance with which any such number shall be determined;

the number or proportion of apprentices employed in the industry in question or in any designated trade or by any employer, to whom there shall have been issued prior to their employment as apprentices, by an authority specified in the notice, a certificate of satisfactory completion of a preparatory course of training so specified;

s)	any other condition of apprenticeship, of whatsoever nature, which he may deem expedient to prescribe.

3)	The Minister may, in the same manner withdraw or amend any notice published under subsection (1) or (2).

4)	A notice under subsection (2) or (3) relating to conditions of apprenticeship may be published simultaneously with or at any time after the publication of a notice under subsection (1) or (3) relating to the designation of the trade in question.

Different conditions of apprenticeship may be prescribed under subsection (2) or (3) in respect of different classes of employers or apprentices, different designated trades and different areas, and in prescribing such different conditions the Minister may apply any method of differentiation he may deem advisable: Provided that the Minister may not so differentiate on the basis of race, colour or sex.

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) the provisions of any notice which by virtue of the provisions of section 58(2) is deemed to have been published in terms of this Act, and which, in relation to conditions of apprenticeship, differentiate on the basis of sex, shall remain of force and effect until those provisions are amended or the notice is withdrawn.

The Minister may, in any notice published under subsection (2) or (3), declare that the conditions of apprenticeship prescribed therein or such of the said conditions as may be specified therein shall, as from a date so specified, apply in respect of apprentices who, at the date of such publication, are employed in the area to which the notice relates in any trade which is or was a designated trade in the industry in respect of which the training board in question is accredited, under contracts of apprenticeship registered in terms of section 16(3) (d) or 18(1) (c) or (3) or, by virtue of the provisions of section 58(3), deemed to be registered in terms thereof, and no such contract shall cease to be binding upon the parties thereto by reason of the fact that as a result of the notice the conditions of apprenticeship applicable in respect of those apprentices have changed.

7)	No condition of apprenticeship prescribed in terms of subsection (2)(c), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o) or (p) shall apply in respect of apprentices employed by the State.

8)	A training board may, subject to such conditions as it may determine, approve of the training of apprentices by or on behalf of any employer in accordance with any system under which the apprentices will receive a specified portion of their training under the continuous supervision of instructors.

9)	Any conditions of apprenticeship which are inconsistent with the conditions to which the training of apprentices under any system so approved are subject, shall not apply in respect of such apprentices.

10)

If an apprentice who is no longer required to attend classes or follow correspondence courses prescribed under subsection (2)(d) or (e), elects to continue his studies in relation to the trade in which he is indentured, he shall be subject to the same conditions and shall enjoy the same privileges as an apprentice who is required to attend such classes or follow such correspondence courses.

11)

The employer of any apprentice who is in terms of any condition prescribed under subsection (2)(d) or (e), or of any exemption under section 47, required to attend for the purposes of study at any place determined by the training board, shall not require or permit the apprentice, if the hours during which he is so required to attend, fall on any one day of the week, to work on that day, or if the said hours fall on more than one day of the week, to work during those hours, and the employer shall pay him in respect of any such day remuneration at a rate not less than his ordinary rate of remuneration, as if he had on such day worked his average ordinary hours for that day: Provided that if an apprentice absented himself without good reason from any such place of study, the employer may deduct so much from his remuneration as is payable to him in respect of the time during which he so absented himself.

12)

If an apprentice passes a trade test prescribed under subsection (2)(h), the registrar shall in collaboration with the training board in question, within 14 days after the last day of the test issue to him a certificate to that effect and his contract of apprenticeship shall be deemed to be terminated with effect from the date of issue of the certificate.

13)	The Minister may in writing and on the conditions which he determines, delegate any power conferred upon him in terms of subsection (1) or (2) of this section to an officer in the service of the Department, and may at any time withdraw such delegation.