Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are expected to play a major role in alleviating the “triple cocktail” of poverty, inequality and unemployment (DHET 2013a; NPC 2012). Policymakers see industrial development – and the development of artisans and occupational workers – as a primary lever to help remedy these socio-economic ills. But TVET lecturers have never received the level of support necessary for reaching these high expectations.