Announced at its Annual General Meeting in East London, the organisation’s priorities include occupational training, digital capabilities and stronger TVET infrastructure, following a 2025/26 financial year in which it achieved a clean audit and 95% performance against its set KPIs.
The changing nature of crime, driven in part by the increasing use of technology, is placing new demands on South Africa’s safety and security sector. From cybercrime and digital fraud to the use of electronic evidence in criminal investigations, the evolving threat landscape requires a workforce equipped with specialised technical and digital capabilities.
The Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA) has identified cybersecurity, digital forensics, policing, investigation and intelligence among its key skills development priorities for the coming financial year.
These priorities were outlined at SASSETA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC), where the organisation reported a clean audit outcome and achieved 95% performance against its predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs) for the 2025/26 financial year.
The announcements reflect the organisation’s focus on strengthening governance and performance while ensuring that its skills development programmes respond to the changing needs of the labour market.
Preparing for a more technology-driven security environment
Cybersecurity and digital forensics are expected to become increasingly important as criminal activity becomes more sophisticated and technology-enabled.
SASSETA intends to support skills development in these areas, alongside policing, investigation and intelligence, to strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to respond to emerging threats.
Digital forensic capabilities are particularly important in investigations involving electronic devices, digital transactions and other forms of technology-based evidence. Investigators need the technical knowledge to identify, preserve, analyse and interpret digital evidence in ways that support effective investigations.
The organisation also wants to strengthen the capabilities of the private security industry, which plays a significant role in South Africa’s broader crime prevention and public safety environment.
With the private security sector operating alongside public law enforcement, SASSETA believes there is a need to invest in advanced crime prevention skills and improve the sector’s ability to respond to evolving security risks.
This includes developing a workforce that understands how technology can support surveillance, monitoring, intelligence gathering and crime prevention.
Strengthening occupational skills development
A key part of SASSETA’s strategy is the expansion of occupational programmes, following direction from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for SETAs to strengthen occupational skills development.
The organisation is investing in infrastructure at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to improve their capacity to deliver occupational qualifications.
The objective is to ensure that institutions have the facilities and resources required to equip young people with practical, industry-relevant skills.
SASSETA believes this is particularly important in addressing the mismatch between qualifications and the skills employers need.
The organisation has also identified artisan and technical skills as a priority, with an intention to expand opportunities for young people to pursue artisan training across various disciplines.
The focus is on ensuring that training translates into practical competencies that can improve employability and support the country's demand for technically skilled professionals.
Without the necessary workshops, equipment and institutional capacity, the ability of TVET colleges to produce qualified artisans at the scale required will remain constrained. Investment in infrastructure is therefore central to SASSETA’s efforts to strengthen occupational training.
Making gender-based violence interventions sustainable
Gender-based violence (GBV) will also remain a key area of focus.
SASSETA plans to work with social partners and other stakeholders to support ongoing interventions aimed at addressing GBV. Rather than treating these initiatives as once-off awareness campaigns, the organisation wants to establish programmes that can be sustained over time.
An important element of this approach is extending support to survivors beyond psychological and post-trauma counselling.
SASSETA believes that access to skills development and economic opportunities can help survivors build greater independence and reduce their vulnerability to returning to abusive environments.
Potential interventions include skills development in areas such as agriculture and community safety, with the intention of supporting economic participation and longer-term empowerment.
Building on performance and accountability
The clean audit outcome and 95% performance against predetermined KPIs reported for the 2025/26 financial year provide an important governance and performance context for SASSETA’s next phase of work.
However, the organisation’s priorities extend beyond meeting annual performance targets. Its focus is on ensuring that investment in skills development produces tangible outcomes for the sector and creates pathways into employment for young people.
This requires stronger partnerships with employers, training institutions, government and other stakeholders to ensure that programmes are informed by actual industry requirements.
As digital technologies transform industries and criminal methods evolve, the safety and security sector will increasingly require professionals who can combine traditional expertise with technical and digital capabilities.
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