SA Revenue Service, Customs & Excise, has embarked on a strategic drive to address the skills deficit in the organisation.
“We are reviewing the recruitment, training and career planning for customs officers,” acting chief officer Customs & Excise, Beyers Theron, told delegates at a business breakfast recently. “If we don’t invest in developing skills now, two years’ time may be too late,” he said.
A basic customs course as well as a declaration and inspection course are currently being developed and the first batch of students will soon begin training.
“I have met with our training division and my expectation is that by the end of the year our induction course must be upgraded so that we have an improved entry level course. And we want to include in that course a stronger emphasis on customs law.” An inspectors’ course is also in the pipeline and will be preceded by a six-week programme that will act as an induction to this course. “
The customs officer will have to complete pre-course work over a period of time and this will be followed by a six-to-eightweek customs checking officer’s course.” The second six-toeight-week course would incorporate a strong practical flavour, he added. “There will be at least a full week in a class environment under supervision where the customs officer will be working on practical issues under the supervision of a host of specialists so that they understand every detail of a bill of entry and other aspects of customs.”
Theron expects the course material to be completed by the end of the year so that the first pilot group can begin the training early next year. “There will be a pass mark which will serve as a prerequisite to checking a bill of entry.
“It’s a massive programme that we will run over the next year. We’ll look at the skills we currently have in the inspection environment and develop our staff to operate in that environment. In addition, a skills and competency assessment will kick off soon – not only in the inspection space but across all of customs. This will inform other development areas. We’ll look at every individual role in Customs and develop tailor-made programmes for the positions in which staff operate.”
And as part of a mentorship programme, all specialists in the organisation will be required, as part of their employment contract, to devote a certain percentage of time to training.
“Our people need to understand the implications in terms of money and time when stopping an authorised economic operator. They need to understand the consequences of their actions.”
In order to do so, effective theoretical and practical training is critical.
If we don’t invest in developing skills now, two years’ time may be too late. – Beyers Theron
