The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) will launch the National Adult Literacy for Empowerment Campaign 2026-2030 on Tuesday, 12 May 2026. The launch will take place at Lovedale TVET College in King Williams Town, Eastern Cape Province.
Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Training, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, MP, will lead the campaign launch. The campaign is themed “Empowering Communities through Literacy for Inclusive Development”. This theme aligns with the nationwide program’s focus over the next five years.
The initiative is a nationwide program led by DHET in partnership with the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA), Old Mutual, Services SETA, the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, and other strategic partners. These partnerships are intended to strengthen the campaign’s reach and impact across communities.
The campaign aims to address adult illiteracy affecting approximately 3.8 million functionally illiterate adults in South Africa. The goal is to empower one million adult learners by 2030 through targeted interventions.
Participants will be equipped with basic and functional literacy, numeracy, digital, financial, entrepreneurial, and civic skills. These skills are designed to support learners in both daily life and economic participation.
The campaign will focus on rural, mining, and marginalised communities, particularly in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the North-West provinces. The 2026 pilot phase will enrol 7,858 learners in these four priority provinces.
Key targets for the campaign include reducing adult illiteracy by at least 26% from the current illiteracy rate. The campaign also aims to create sustainable pathways from literacy to skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.
These pathways are meant to link learning directly to opportunities for work and business. The launch event will run from 09h00 to 14h00 at Lovedale TVET College.
