Pretoria – The Department of Labour has announced that the Sheltered Employment Factories (SEF), which provide employment opportunities to people with disabilities, will officially undergo a name change.
The Sheltered Employment Factories will now be known as Supported Employment Enterprises (SEE). The new name is expected to be launched in East London in October.
The new Supporter Employment Enterprises name also formally marks the conferring of a legal status to the entity, said the department.
This follows the recent promulgation of the Employment Services (ES) Act, 2014, which took effect on 09 August 2015. The Employment Services Act seeks to establish a new dedicated Public Employment Services to provide employment services interventions free of charge to work seekers and employers.
The SEE was established in 1943 for ex-servicemen and service women who could not hold down employment in the labour market.
Currently, the SEE has 12 factories in seven provinces employing 899 people with disabilities as at March 2015.
The enterprise specialises in hospital linen and clothing production, embroidery, woodwork, metalwork, upholstery, bookbinding and screen printing. SEE’s main customers are from education, police and heath sectors. – SAnews.gov.za
