The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) recently commissioned a review of the career development field in South Africa. The review was designed to clarify what SAQA's role might be in assisting learners throughout life to navigate their ways through the complex array of education, training and work opportunities (including, but not confined to, those within higher education). This article situates the initiative historically and, in particular, in relation to the experiences in the late 1970s and 1980s of the first community-based non-governmental career development organisation, the Careers Research and Information Centre (CRIC). It also locates it in relation to policy developments internationally. It argues that the time is ripe for a high-level national career development initiative in South Africa that could act as a catalyst for career development services across all education, training and work sectors, both public and private, within a lifelong learning philosophy and approach.