Dear Honourable Members,

I am writing from Tembisa, Gauteng, as a beauty and wellness entrepreneur and skills-development practitioner to raise a concern regarding the thousands of South Africans who acquire income-generating beauty skills outside formal training institutions.

Across our townships, people are learning and teaching nail technology, hair, lashes, makeup, skincare and other beauty skills from home-based trainers, small academies, mentorship and practical experience. Many become competent practitioners, earn an income and create opportunities for others, yet their training is often dismissed as “fly-by-night” because it falls outside recognised structures.

The informal beauty educator is not necessarily the problem. The problem is the gap between informal learning and recognised professional competence.

This matters in a country where youth unemployment remains exceptionally high. Stats SA reported unemployment of 60.9% among 15–24-year-olds in Q1 2026, while 45.6% of people aged 15–34 were not in employment, education or training.

South Africa already recognises the principle of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), through which relevant informal and non-formal learning can be assessed and recognised. Beauty and personal-care occupations are also already represented within our formal skills-development system.

My question to Parliament is therefore simple:

How accessible are these existing RPL and occupational pathways to the nail technician, beauty practitioner or informal trainer operating from a township today?

There is also a question of representation. Township practitioners are significant consumers and participants in the professional beauty economy: they purchase training, products, equipment and consumables, serve communities, create self-employment and train others. Yet their realities are not sufficiently represented in the structures and conversations shaping professional standards and skills development.

Township beauty practitioners should not only be a market for the formal beauty industry; they should have a voice in shaping it.

I respectfully request that the relevant Portfolio Committees facilitate engagement with DHET, QCTO, SAQA, Services SETA, Small Business Development and representatives of township beauty practitioners to examine how accessible existing RPL pathways are and how informally acquired beauty skills can be better connected to credible assessment, gap training and recognised occupational progression.

I am not requesting funding. I am requesting representation, engagement and a seat at the table for a part of the beauty economy that deserves to be heard.

Kind regards,
Gugulethu Masondo
Tembisa, Gauteng